Thiruvananthapuram: The answer given to a question under the Right to Information Act to a student by the KSRTC has exposed the severe staff and bus shortage in various depots of the KSRTC in the district. As per the reply to a RTI query by Ajay S. Kumar of Kodunganoor, the city depot had 110 buses including three in the workshop as per the statistics on August 3. This meant that there was a shortage of 32 buses. Then there were a total of 54 buses including nine in the workshop in Vellanad depot. This meant a shortage of 15 buses.
The Aryanad depot has a total of 35 buses, three are in the workshop amounting to a shortage of nine buses. In Kattakada depot, there were a total of 70 scheduled daily and the shortage therefore was of 11 buses. On an average, 11 buses are in the workshop each month. The depot has a shortage of 40 drivers and seven conductors. In Vellarda depot, while there are 55 schedules needing 61 buses, the total number of buses in the depot is 53. As many as nine buses were in the workshop during the second week of August. There was a shortage of five drivers and 15 conductors here.
Vikas Bhavan depot which has a total of 76 buses has a shortage of 30 buses with 14 in the workshop every month. In Peroorkada depot, the total number of buses was 79 whereas it needed 121 buses. Of them, 11 were in the workshop and there was a shortage of 31 drivers. In Papanamcode depot, the total number of buses was 77 including 20 in the workshop. There was a shortage of 32 buses and 22 drivers here.
