KSRTC’s city, rural units to merge

Transport Corporation to cut flab; turn smarter with efficient operations

Mysore/Mysuru: Very soon you will not see a separate Mysuru Urban (City) and Mysuru Rural Divisions of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) as they will be merged into one entity to cut mounting losses and to bring in efficiency in operation, maintenance and staffing.

This merger is a part of restructuring the operations and a decision to this effect was taken on Dec. 28 at KSRTC Board meeting held in the Bengaluru Head Office. Once the merger takes effect, the divisions will operate as one unit and will be trimmed to need-based operations and staff.

All the excess staff of the merged units will be redeployed in other divisions of the KSRTC where there is a scarcity of manpower.

Confirming this development, KSRTC Chairman Chandrappa told Star of Mysore that every year, the twin divisions in Mysuru would invariably incur a loss of Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 100 crore.

“We have unnecessary infrastructure, depots, staff, machinery, workmen and resources and almost all the revenue would be exhausted for salaries. They will be merged to balance revenues and expenditure and to prevent losses. Henceforth, we will have only one office instead of multiple ones,” he said.

Cutting excess expenditure

“While the city division has 2,500 staff, the rural division has 1,000 and once the merger is initiated, excess staff would be transferred to other divisions where there is a need of manpower and machines and we have to cut flab. The staff include drivers, conductors, mechanics, TC and others,” he added.

Many buildings will become redundant after the merger and the KSRTC is planning to rent them out to increase revenue. “However, the merger will have no bearing on the existing services being provided by the rural and the urban divisions and it will result in better utilisation of staff, infrastructure and other resources,” Chandrappa added.

The KSRTC Board has decided to close the Bannimantap  building and some of the other buildings available with both the urban and rural units and there will be only one main workshop. All the other divisional workshops of both units will make way for rental properties so that the KSRTC earns revenue.

“As of now, the revenue comes only from tickets and the Corporation is planning to augment rental revenue to increase profits,” he added.

There will be some visible changes in the buses that will henceforth sport KSRTC banners instead of the ‘Nagara Sarige’ (city service) and the latter will be written in small. There will be no change in service schedules, rather all services will be optimised and streamlined. Both the bus stands will maintain their distinct identity, he added.