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  • Category: General

    Should KSRTC be Privatised? - Open Debate

    Should KSRTC be Privatised? - Open Debate. KSRTC Kerala State Road Transport Service, one of the institution under the government which if could be run properly, would alone be able to contribute to a huge chunk of Kerala's revenue in terms of profit to government. But the condition is so pathetic that now KSRTC is at the brim of collapse. The amount of resources that KSRTC has is all in waste as it is being run in loss.There are many options amongst which one beeing that if KSRTC is privatised then may be it could elevate its condition to a better position.But at the same time if it is privatised there are lots of complications to it.

    For the motion- Yes, KSRTC should be privatised

    Against the motion- No, KSRTC should not be privatised.
  • #7416
    KSRTC formerly known as Travancore State Transport Department was established with an intention to serve the people of Kerala and not for making profit. It has social obligation. Under the pretext of revival privatizing the corporation will not serve its indented aim. But, in today's world a business need to be innovated continuously to survive in the market. For that we have to enforce bold and drastic measures to revive the corporation.

    Replace corrupt, unqualified, inefficient management with professional people and allow them to run the show with free hand. We should ensure that Politicians meddling in its affairs to be stopped. Freebees and concessions are to be removed. Make each and every staff accountable. Pension schemes to be restructured. It has huge asset base. Capitalisation of its assets can be think off.

    Government can hire Management consultancy firms to study and suggest recommendations to make KSRTC run in profit under government control.

  • #7420
    It is true that KSRTC is running in great loss but government tries their level best to make this useful for all the common people and workers. Government do have certain limitations in bringing full benefits from KSRTC. Its not practical to run this sector profitably when all considerations are provided for their workers. Buses are not even in proper condition and its really tormenting for passengers. Thus i strongly believe that if KSRTC is made government aided sector then their will be a drastic change from present condition. It doesn't mean to give full authority to privates but this may bring some returns for government in future. According to me this is a viable option but i do invite all members who appose to my view.

  • #7434
    The major problem of KSRTC is their workers union. They didnt cooperate with the officials. The people who tried to make KSRTC a better corporation left the place because of the workers non-cooperation. There should be strict measures introduced inorder to make ksrtc into a profitable one. The ksrtc buses are in alliance with private bus owners and they make ksrtc buses run with less passengers. Strict measures has to be taken against this. Privatization will not be a solution for ksrtc to become a profitable one.

  • #7447
    I agree with Mr Akhil's views. Workers union is serious problem. Militant trade unionism and their non-cooperation are the curse of industrial development in Kerala. Lopsided Labor laws are to be amended to weed out this menace.

  • #7450
    It is proving to be a fruitful debate as far as now. Initially our topics were , for the motion- Yes KSRTC should be privatised and against the motion- No KSRTC should not be privatised. As the debate is now taking turns i would also like to bring another aspect to this debate which was proposed by Cijo in his response that KSRTC should be made a government aided sector, I also request the members to consider this perspective to account. At the same time I congratulate Neeraj and Akhil for their valuable and fruitful points.

  • #7458
    KSRTC has to continue on our roads. True that it is now not making profit. But I am sure it is only a temporary phenomenon. Management of such a 'company' should be carried out by efficient people. There were Ministers who had shown how this Corporation could be made useful and profitable. The employees who have to be in touch with the people are drivers and conductors. They were behaving in a pleasing and useful manner. I have seen conductors announcing in stops about the destination to the passengers as generally done by private bus conductors.
    Of course I am not saying that this is a must, but waiting for the passengers will be advisable. Similarly the drivers must stop if a passenger shows his hand for getting into the bus. Not that the limited stop buses are to stop, ordinary buses can do that.
    People also should cooperate with the employees. They must feel that this is their vehicle. They should not try to destroy it in the name of a strike or other political reasons. My contention is that the KSRTC must be retained under the Government control.

    T.M.Sankaran
    Gold Member, SPK

  • #7463
    Starting from my last point of previous comment, Privatization will not be a solution for ksrtc to become a profitable one. What matters when KSRTC is privatized. It will give the workers union to conduct strike for a long time. nothing else. The things needed to be changed is the attitude. The workers should be more loyal towards the corporation. Whatever happens, they will get salary.
    Private bus workers are getting salary according to the collection from bus. So they make more chances to get passengers and try to run all trips. In KSRTC they are trying to make the bus complaint and they can get salary without work.
    Officers are also like that. In a survey it states that there are almost 30 percentage of office workers are not working. They doesn't have work. They might have found ways to avoid their work. Proper monitoring is needed. For that cooperation is needed from employees.

  • #7469
    KSRTC to be made under Govt aided sector means funding by the Govt and management by private agencies which indirectly mean selling assets to private parties. Finally it will lead to complete privatization.
    Instead of selling assets which KSRTC built over years and If there is a scope for improvement why we can't explore that option?

  • #7470
    You are totally getting it wrong. By making KSRTC under a 'government aided sector', there will be enormous hike in our economy. What I meant was, full authority should be rested upon government and they should be the ultimate decision makers. A share from the profit should be given to private owners and this could also speed up the development in this sector. The ultimate aim is to elevate the current standard of KSRTC and rap up all the unwanted expenditure. I strongly believe that by implementing this, KSRTC can culminate in bringing huge success to our economy.

  • #7472
    The debate is spicing up to a higher notch now, we have the supporters for both wings of the debate. I would like to suggest the members to give some facts to support the points that they state, the members are also welcome to cross question other members points with support of factual points.While cross questioning, the name of the member to whom the question is being presented should be mentioned clearly.

  • #7473
    PPP - Public private partnership will be a good solution for KSRTC. So the managerial decisions will be taken by the private sector and the government will be also have role in taking major decisions. The whole management sector should be modernized and government should take firm decisions to make it profitable. A complete survey about the bus routes is to be taken and strict measures should be taken to make buses run on time. Maintenance should be done within no time and no buses should be there in workshops for unreasonable cases. Proper supervising is needed.

  • #7474
    I agree.PPP model is a viable option especially after the successful functioning of CIAL.This option can be explored only if the Govt is not able to run the show. I don't think the situation is reached in such a stage. Converting an existing enterprise into PPP model is very complex than starting a new enterprise in this route.
    A detailed study to be conducted to bail out the corporation.

  • #7475
    PPP is exactly what i meant. I think it is the viable option that could be followed by KSRTC in future. Hope there could be a miraculous change in this sector on days to come.

  • #7476
    To Neeraj
    The condition of KSRTC is by far the worst in decades, if we account to it. Yes it is true that it involves a lot of complexity to make a government sector PPP, but changes are inevitable at some point or the other change has to be made. So why not do it before any further harm occurs, or the situation completely takes troll out of control.

  • #7477
    Introducing PPP in ksrtc is not that easy. Workers will be protesting against this in a wide extent. The benefits they are getting now will be reduced and also government decisions will be majorly influenced by the private sector decisions. This will lead the ksrtc into more strikes and workers non cooperation. Government has to take measures to control the workers union. The criterias after ppp should be crystal clear and it should be good for workers and also for corporation.

  • #7478
    The PPP or P3 defines as "a partnership between a public sector entity (sponsoring authority) and a private sector entity (a legal entity in which 51% or more of equity is with the private partner/s) for the creation and/or management of infrastructure for public purpose for a specified period of time (concession period) on commercial terms and in which the private partner has been procured through a transparent and open procurement system.[8]
    If we want to operate KSRTC in PPP model we have to offload 51% of equity to private parties. This is a form of privatization. We can't accept it
    My content is KSRTC is to be operated fully with state control or to be run as state undertaking.

  • #7487
    My opinion is that KSRTC should not be privatized. On implementing strict rules and regulations can gradually improve the present situation. Workers should be so assigned that only dedicated and sincere among them should be eligible for all the benefits from government. This can bring a great change for present situation.

  • #7491
    I am of the opinion that KSRTC should not be privatized. It is a medium through which the government can earn revenue. Today revenue is required by government for large scale projects of our developing country. In other words, we ourselves are benefiting from these projects. This cannot happen if the KSRTC services are privatized. The government should try to reduce the corruption among the workers and should only post sincere members who are willing to work to those positions. In these way we can surely make these services a success.

    THANK YOU

  • #7511
    Disinvestment of KSRTC is a viable option to the current scenario, disinvestment is a process through which privatisation could take place. On the whole theses two terms are closely interwoven. Disinvestment is the reduction of investment in the private sector. Through this process we can to great extend elevate the current dire situation of KSRTC. There is a separate board assigned for undertaking disinvestment activities.A public sector disinvestment commission was set up in 1994 to aid the same. Maruthi is a best example for disinvestment. It was running under loss but after privatisation now its one of the top profit companies in our country. The major objectives of disinvestment is to release huge amount of resources locked up in non strategic PSEs for the redeployment in the areas that require monetary assistance. So disinvestmen could effectively manipulate and could drastically change the current face of KSRTC.


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