TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: BJP MLAs Nilesh Cabral and Rajan Naik, who have stakes in the bus transport business, on Monday strongly rooted for the proposal to hand over private bus operations to the Kadamba Transport Corporation on kilometre basis via the special purpose vehicle offered by the government.
Cabral in particular urged the private bus operators to forge a consensus on the proposal, saying that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is open to the proposal on condition that a consensus is arrived at amongst private bus operators on the matter.
The proposal entails handing over the private buses to the KTC for management via a special purpose vehicle created by the government. In return, the private operators will be paid on kilometre basis. While expenses on the driver, maintenance and diesel will be borne by the private bus operator, the KTC would employ its own conductor on the private buses.
“This proposal would benefit the private bus operators in a big way. The KTC will run the private buses on the designated routes on kilometre basis. We have been hit by the pass system. There will be clash of timings,” Cabral asserted, adding, “We have discussed the proposal with the CM, who is open to discussions. His only condition is that the private bus operators would discuss the proposal in detail and come back for further negotiations,” he told the bus operators at a meeting held here on Monday under the banner of Goa Route Bus Owners Association.
The Curchorem MLA made an impassioned plea to the bus operators to give the proposal a serious thought in their interest and in the interest of their business. “There’s no politics behind this proposal. I and Rajan have taken up the issue because we are also bus operators. Bus owners are affiliated to all political parties. The time has come now to forge a consensus on the issue,” he appealed.
Cabral said the proposal can be first implemented on the Sangeum-Curchorem-Quepem-Margao route on an experimental basis, adding that the same can be replicated on other routes if successful.
He, however, cautioned that the scheme can be implemented by the government on a particular route only if all the existing private bus operators give their nod.
In his address, Cuncolim MLA
Rajan Naik said the private bus operators were passing through a difficult phase in their traditional business due to a host of factors. “We have reached a point where in the business has turned uneconomical. Handing over the buses to the KTC to run them on kilometre basis can save the private operators,”
he added.
