Kerala’s KSRTC to be split into three entities in major decentralization move

The Transport Department of Kerala has announced plans to divide the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) into three independent corporations with the aim of making services more efficient, profitable, and reliable. The trifurcation plan will be implemented in June and will see four or five districts form the jurisdictional area of each corporation, with each receiving a new name. Administrative responsibilities will be entrusted to Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) officers who will have the freedom to introduce reforms to turn the corporation profitable.

According to Transport Minister Antony Raju, “the planned decentralization will help in making the services more efficient and ensure better travel facilities. The process of dividing the KSRTC into three corporations will be completed soon.” This move comes after the KSRTC was previously divided into four zones to ensure better operation of services. However, once the corporations are formed, these zones will cease to exist.

Assets like buses and depots will be divided up among the three corporations, and each corporation will decide all matters, including the transfer and salary of its employees. Transfers will be granted only within the jurisdictional area of each corporation. The corporations will be formed on the lines of the model in Tamil Nadu which has eight road transport corporations. A team under the Transport Secretary had visited Chennai twice to study the functioning of the public transport system in Tamil Nadu.

Long-distance services will not function under the new corporations but will continue to be run by the K-SWIFT transport company, which was founded in 2021. This move is expected to weaken the strength of employee unions, and recognized trade unions will be formed in each corporation by conducting a referendum. In Raju’s words, “People should not be made to wait for getting a response to their grievances from Thiruvananthapuram. The planned decentralization will help in making the services more efficient and ensure better travel facilities.”