Government to look into alleged irregularities

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Transport Minister Aryadan Mohammed has said that the government will look into the alleged irregularities by private bus operations in operating services in the city. The Minister told ‘Express’ that the government would take appropriate action if the allegations were found to be true. The irregularities in operating services by some private bus operators, allegedly in collusion with some officials of the Regional Transport Authority, came to the fore after the Lok Ayukta ordered a probe into the issue. The Lok Ayukta action came on a petition filed by Jose Jacob, general secretary of the KSRT Employees Association (CITU).   “The government will wait for the Lok Ayukta verdict on the issue,” the Minister said. The main allegations include sanctioning of permits in violation of norms, diversion of services from original routes, ending services midway and non-adherence to time schedules. The petitioners also alleged that a powerful lobby of officials was supporting the erring operators. Two officials named as accused in the case are learnt to be on leave.Meanwhile, the KSRTC management said that it hadn’t received any formal complaints on the allegations on the involvement of some Corporation officials in the issue. A top official of the Corporation said that action would be taken if any official of the Corporation was found guilty in the Lok Ayukta probe.The Lok Ayukta is also considering another case in connection with the sanctioning of temporary permit for a private bus for 17 years in violation of rules. The Lok Ayukta division bench comprising Justice M M Pareed Pillai and Justice G Sasidharan sent notices to the Deputy Transport Commissioner E S James, Thiruvananthapuram RTO K Manoharan Nair and District Collector K N Satheesh in the case.