The Hindu Business Line : Experts recommend industry status for transport sector

The transport sector is beset with myriad problems arising from issues such as fare fixation, taxation level/structure, issuance of permits and insurance.

Thiruvananthapuram , July 4

THE demand for declaring transport sector as an industry found zealous expression at a seminar hosted recently here by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac), an R&D centre under the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment.

About 150 delegates representing various organisations drawn from the transport sector participated in the seminar, titled, `Problems of transport industry in Kerala'.

Among other things, the need for setting up transport grievance cells at the district and State levels was articulated at the seminar. Ideally, this cell should be comprised of senior officers drawn from the Motor Vehicles Department, the Police, fleet operators and representatives of public.

The number of route permits issued to private bus operators needs to be restricted. Henceforth, route permits would have to be issued on the basis of passenger demand and road conditions. `Parallel' services on and along bus routes and traffic-dense corridors need to be checked. Overloading of trucks and passenger vehicles should not be encouraged. The practice of school buses operating as tourist carriages on school holidays needs to be curbed.

Participants also aired the demand that insurance companies be asked to contribute five per cent of the insurance premium for road safety programmes, even while the existing premium was retained as such. The State Government should seek to evolve a mechanism to compensate the loss incurred by private operators by way of allowing student concession.

Natpac will prepare a document listing the problems faced by the sector as well as suggest measures for improving the transport system. According to a preliminary draft, the sector is beset with myriad problems arising from issues such as fare fixation, taxation level/structure, issuance of permits and insurance.

The transport industry, which is at the core of socio-economic development of the region, needs to be looked into in a holistic manner. Especially since it generates 7.4 per cent of the Net State Domestic Product and accounts for 11 per cent of the Plan outlay.

The industry commands a vast spectrum of stakeholders ranging from Government departments and the public sector Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to financiers and travel and tour operators, and each one of them has listed a litany of operational problems. Evidently, the most often cited is the frequent increase in fuel prices and imposition of an administered fare structure on bus operators.

On the other hand, the public is becoming increasingly concerned with the frequent road accidents in the State as also with the overcrowded public transport system.

Despite having a vast coastline and a large network of backwaters, inland water transport and coastal shipping have not evolved in the State to the extent desirable. The total route length of railways has more or less stagnated at 1,148 km. In this manner, the road transport sector has come to bear the brunt of the transporting needs of both cargo movers and passengers.

But the road length has hardly kept pace with the huge demand. Of the 1.38 lakh km of roads in the State, 1,524 km are National Highway stretches, 95,516 km panchayat roads and 21,467 km PWD roads. But, the number of vehicles registered in the State had leapfrogged from 5.23 lakh in 1988 to 25.52 lakh in 2003.