Kochi: The financial liability borne by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) per annum on account of extending concessions to various sections has touched Rs 205.25 crore, according to latest figures submitted by it to the government.
The annual liability towards extending social obligations grew by nearly Rs 25 crore a year post the government’s decision to provide free travel to over 1.3 lakh students upto the Higher Secondary School level.
“As per the latest figures arrived at, the corporation suffers a financial burden of Rs 82 crore a year towards Students Concessions. In total, the corporation provides 59,005 concession passes a year to commuters coming under 10 categories,” a senior officer said .
A total of 37,013 passes were doled out to the Physically Handicapped and Disabled section, incurring a liability of Rs 73.87 crore. It’s followed by the Blind Rs 28.52 crore (9,934 passes) and the Deaf Rs 5.76 crore (6,060 passes).
The freebies extended to MLAs, Ex-MLAs and councillors run upto Rs 1.37 crore while scribes enjoy passes worth Rs 58.03 lakh a year, he said.
The concessions provided to the rest of the categories including m-entally challenged persons and freedom fighters incur a financial liability of Rs15 crore.
Earlier, the KSRTC moved the court claiming that the government failed to pay back Rs 1,616.39 crore due to it as on the year 2013-14 ‘towards fulfillment of social obligations’.
Though the court directed the government to roughly calculate the liability figures and pay half the amount, it is yet to be done.
“The court’s deadline to the government to pay back the amount was January 31. We have filed a contempt of court case. Currently we are staring at a monthly Income-Expenditure gap of Rs 100 crore,” the officer said.
