Kerala KSRTC's low floor buses to be converted into classrooms?

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Is the Kerala government planning to convert its derelict low floor buses into classrooms is a question that arises after state Transport Minister Antony Raju on Tuesday agreed to provide two low floor buses for that purpose to a government school in Manacaud here. In an event held at the school, Raju said that two low floor KSRTC buses, which were meant to be scrapped, would be provided to the school for being converted into 2 to 4 classrooms.

"The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is your own and is meant for you," he added. The state Transport Minister also joked that now no one should say that they only want low floor buses and not buildings to hold classes. According to a statement filed by the KSRTC in the Kerala High Court recently, it has around 239 low floor rear-engine buses lying unused in its depots across the state.

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All the 239 buses are more than nine years old and have run more than 5 lakh kilometers and therefore, the corporation has decided to scrap them, KSRTC told the court in response to a PIL which alleged that around 2,800 buses of the state transport authority were lying unused in various depots.

Refuting the allegation, KSRTC told the court that 1,736 buses were lying unused due to COVID-19 and of them 920 were earmarked for scrapping and the rest were to be utilised for service operations. Presently, only around 455 buses were lying unused, it had told the court. It remains to be seen whether the Transport department intends to recycle or convert all of them into classrooms or scrap them as it originally planned.