Minister for Power and Transport Aryadan Mohammed will lay the foundation stone for the proposed KSRTC sub depot at Vadakara on December 15. The first phase of the project, coming up in the municipal land, would be completed within a year to smoothen the operations of KSRTC services in the rural area.
Over one-and-a-half acres of land has been identified near the Malabar marketing society ground to build the facility. Initially, a sum of Rs.50 lakh, sanctioned from the local development fund of C.K. Nanu, MLA, would be utilised to complete the first phase.
P.P. Ranjini, Vadakara Municipal chairperson, and the head of the organising committee for the stone-laying ceremony, said the sub depot was a long-pending demand of the region as the KSRTC services were mainly depending on the limited facilities at the Vadakara bus stand. With the opening of the sub depot, the services could be operated more efficiently, she said.
Ms. Ranjini said the municipality had also decided to permanently hand over the existing operating centre of the KSRTC at the Vadakara bus stand to the corporation. “The decision was taken following a request from the KSRTC that they were in need of a city centre to control the services in addition to the sub depot. We have also cleared all the formalities related to the handing over of land to KSRTC,” she said.
In the new compound, the KSRTC would get ample space to control the services and carry out maintenance. A garage and diesel filling stations too would be part of the new sub depot.
Though the local area development fund of the MLA would be the initial source of money to set up the venture, the State fund too would be sought during the course of the work . Proposals in this regard would be submitted to the government by Mr. Nanu.
