Plea to exempt KSRTC from hartals

The Kerala government should declare the loss making Kerala State Road Transport Corporation as an essential service and exempt it from the "frequent hartals", a top official said today.

The hartals were causing heavy loss to the KSRTC which was already reeling under severe financial strain, Chairman and Managing Director Tomin J Thachankary said.

An all party meeting should be called and consensus arrived on the matter, he said.

The corporation should be allowed to operate its services without any hindrance.

The "frequent hartals" were causing a severe blow to the already stressed corporation at a time when it was trying to make its services viable, he said.

During hartals, KSRTC was not only unable to operate its services, causing huge losses, but protesters also throw stones, damaging the buses, the official said.

As hospitals, milk supply and newspapers are considered essential service and exempted from hartals, KSRTC also should be allowed to operate its services, he said.

Even shutdowns called by political parties on local issues, were causing huge loss to KSRTC as they are unable to operate services.

Recently, various tourism based organisations had appealed for exemption of the sector from hartals.