Only 3-minute stop for private buses at East Fort

Crowding of buses at East fort in Thiruvananthapuram.

The permits of the private stage carriers who halt more than three minutes or illegally park in the busy city bus terminal at East Fort is to be cancelled.

A high-level meeting chaired by District Collector K. Vasuki at the collectorate here on Monday also made it clear that the land where city bus terminal has been constructed belongs to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation.

The decision comes in the wake of the objections raised by the State transport utility over the stoppage of the private stage carriers at the bus terminal, blocking of KSRTC buses by private buses, parking at the 100-m-long terminal for long periods of time, haphazard parking and trailing of the buses.

The meeting also decided to look into the option of granting stops to the private stage carriers operating via East Fort close to the Fort wall opposite the Central High School and on the Hotel Luciya side and near Civil Supplies building after the Maha Ganapathy temple. However, a decision in this regard will be taken only after elaborate discussions with all concerned.

In August, KSRTC chairman and managing director M.G. Rajamanickam wrote to the District Police Chief, Thiruananthapuram City, P. Prakash to register cases against 110-odd private buses that enter the terminal, after private bus crew abused KSRTC staff and waylaid KSRTC buses at the busy transport node.

According to the KSRTC, the terminal in the 75 cents of land parallel to the Fort wall is solely for the use of the fleet of the transport utility. The private buses were allowed a three-minute halt at the bus terminal since 1994 when they were granted permit by the RTA to operate in city limits. The meeting chaired by Dr. Vasuki has approved the claim of the KSRTC.

The meeting also asked the Regional Transport Officer to submit frequency report as the bus scheedules are being operated in the city as per the schedules prepared in 1992.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Law and Order and Traffic, G. Jaydev, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic South, M. K. Sulfaikar, Assistant Transport Officer Salim Kumar R. S and representatives of the private stage carriers attended the meeting.