NOTE ON COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF EASTFORT AND IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM CITY

The Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Corporation Ltd (TRDCL),  the concessionaire  under the KRFB, in association with the District Administration has undertaken the development of roads at Eastfort, during the last two years. The medians were shifted to give more carriage way on the eastern side (fort side). Handrails and signals were erected. But, still people jump over the medians without showing the patience to cross at signals, and fall in front of the buses, causing accidents. The haphazard way in which the buses and other vehicles run, wrong parking of auto rickshaws, footpaths occupied by the hawkers, the large number of KSRTC buses and most importantly, the private buses unauthorisedly parking/ terminating at Eastfort - all contribute and result in frequent accidents. The District Administration had intervened in the matter and made several improvements but the efforts have not become effective, since  all such initiatives are being undertaken on a piecemeal basis, without substantial investments and without a long term vision. Another reason that a comprehensive  plan could not be implemented was due to the fact that several departments/organisations possessing land at Eastfort were not willing to share them for the benefit of common man.

Thus, barring the 3 acres in respect of the school, more than 10 acres of land -- sufficient for implementation of a comprehensive plan at Eastfort. But  what is absent is the comprehensive development plan and  the chaotic situation remains unsolved. It is proposed that the following suggestions may be kindly implemented in a phased manner during the next two years under the CRDP in association with the KSRTC and Corporation of Thiruvanathapuram.

A. Suggestions to improve and beautify Eastfort:-

a. Construct a shopping-cum-hospital complex in the one acre land owned by Health department. About 40  shops in the KSTRC land as well as the disputed land of Revenue department (total area 1.13 acres) to be shifted to the land belonging to the Homeo Hospital of  health department after building the complex in a BoT or Annuity model. Alternatively, without taking the land of the Homeo Hospital, all the shops could be shifted to the two bus stand complexes mentioned in item (d) below.

b. The Gandhi Park to be shifted to the 75 cents now occupied by KSRTC and 38 cents in dispute with the traders, on both sides of the Fort entrance, fully exposing the heritage structure, which is the icon of Thiruvananthapuram. It may be noted Gandhi park is only 75 cents now, it can be shifted to 1.13 acres of land, on the opposite side of the road.

c. The Chalai road shall be extended through the middle of the Gandhi Park, restoring the original glory of East fort and by dividing the park into two, but connected through a subway.

d. The northern part of the Gandhi park shall be combined to the 1.90 acres of land belonging to the KSTRC and a new bus terminal cum shopping complex to be constructed there. KSRTC will gain around 75 cents they lost on the other side.

e. Similarly, the southern portion of the Gandhi Park to be combined together with 1.64 acres of TRIDA (acquired for new Bus Terminal) and another shopping complex cum bus terminal could be constructed (one can be set apart for KSRTC and other for Private Buses, Taxi and Autorikshaws).

f. Multi level car parking, Police outpost, Taxi/Auto Stands etc to be constructed at the land owned by TRIDA.

g. A road starting from the new Bus stand of KSRTC through the front of Sree Padmanabha Theatre and  shall pass through the TRIDA land to meet Attakulangara Junction over the drains (near new Ramachandra Textiles). This will be one way and decongest the Eastfort.

h. A skywalk or a subway, with sufficient measures to prevent flooding, with shops on both sides shall be constructed from the proposed shopping-cum-hospital complex  connecting the new bus terminals and  Putharikandam. Similarly an underpass shall be constructed connecting the two bus terminals.

i. About 60 shops were displaced by the construction of the Thakaraparambu Flyover. Some were rehabilitated by the side of Central Theatre road and blocking one of the main roads. It is proposed that the 23 cents  where Horticorp is located  and the 28 cents in front of the Sree Chithra Home may be utilised for construction of shopping complex on BoT model so that such shifting will not only decongest the Central Theatre road but also have the following benefits.

i. Sree Chithra Home will get extra income from the rental of shops which could be utilised for financial assistance for girls marrying off.

ii. About 60 shop owners could rehabilitated

B. Suggestions to decongest Thampanoor and Improvement of Public Transport System in Thiruvananthapuram 

The above area is without taking into account the land possessed by KSRTC for various offices and training colleges.When an area of 26.08 acres is available in various parts of the city for bus depots, the entire fleet of long distance buses and local buses of KSTRC are being operated from Thampanoor, creating serious traffic problems and causing accidents. There has never been any attempt to decentralise the operations of KSRTC at any point of time in the past. The city roads cannot bear the overcrowding of vehicles. 

      In all big cities like Banglore, Coimbatore etc the long distance buses are being operated, not from the heart of city, but from the periphery. The city is yet to find a place for the long distance private buses. In fact, private buses are being given a second class treatment and most believe that KSTRC alone can solve the public transport woes. There shall be policy shifted to encourage any form of public transport vehicles (taxi, autos, maxi cabs etc) so that people can depend on such vehicles, reducing the multiplication of private vehicles --  bikes and owned cars. Suggestions in this regard are:-

a. After constructing a full fledged Bus terminal cum shopping complex in the 5.80 acres  of land avaialable at Enchakkal, shift those long distance buses plying through NH and MC roads towards north Kerala from thampanoor Central Bus stand to that terminal. Most of the  buses to MC road may turn from Kazhakoottam to Venjaramood. Some buses can be routed through Sreekaryam, Keshavadasapuram and Mannanthala to take care of the passengers between Venjaramood and Keshavadasapuram.

b. The 3.5 acres plot near Anayara World Market shall be converted to a 'multi modal transport hub' from where private long distance (Volvo/Scania/Benz) buses will start and terminate. There shall be city bus terminal, a boat jetty and taxi/Auto stand and  paid parking area for private vehicles. Sufficient  toilets, hotels, restaurants, car parking spaces and shopping malls will also be provided in the hub. After the deweeding of Parvathy Puthanar, Akkulam/Veli Lake and TS canal, regular boats can be plied to carry passenger to Kovalam as southern side and Varkala on northern side. (This will again decongest NH stretch and also improve tourism revenues)

c. The East/South bound KSRTC/Tamil Nadu and private long distance buses shall be shifted to Pappanamcode Bus depot, which shall also be developed into another transport hub. The buses to Chengotta side through Nedumangad can also start from this hub.

d. The Bus terminals of Vikas Bhavan and Peroorkada along with Thampanoor shall be hub of operation of city service.All  the city service buses shall have only temporary halt at Eastfort.

e. There will be circular services every five minutes connecting Pappanamcode, Enchakkal, Anayara, Thampanoor and Peroorkada bus depots for the benefit of long distance commuters. They will also be given option to take tickets towards any of the above depots and travel in the circular service will be free in KSRTC, on showing the land distance tickets.

f. All the Long distance trains may be shifted to Kochuveli station from Thampanoor. Parking bays for bus, taxi,private cars, bikes could be constructed on the air space above the railway lines under a JV with Railways (which is to be formed as part of the sub-urban project). There shall be a corridor connecting the Anayara multi modal hub with the Kochu Veli Railway Station and battery operated cars/trolleys carry passengers to and fro.

g. About 20 acres of land should be acquired between the Veli Railway station and the new transport Hub at Anayara, to set up a lorry parking area and drivers amenity centre. The lorries shall only enter city, especially Chalai and other places only after 8 pm for loading and unloading operations.

The 45 mts wide  NH Bypass from Kazhakoottam to Karode  once operational will take away much of the long distance heavy vehicle traffic towards Tamil Nadu from the city. It is necessary that these heavy vehicles should not be given an opportunity to enter the city during peak hours. The above measures are essentially required to decongest the city traffic in that way.

Other add-on Components :

1. The deweeding and deepening of the TS Canal and Paravaty Puthanar is being done. The earlier LDF govt has initiated a project called ‘Theerapadham’ to rehabilitate the unauthorised dwellers on both sides of the river and to convert it into a beautiful walkway  and commercial hub. This may be revived.

2. The former director of airport had initiated a project called aeropolis. This envisaged a convention centre, use of water way of Parvathi Puthanar etc along with the development of airport. The land acquisition for the shifting of domestic terminal airport, which will save 6 kms for the passengers, when shifted to International airport side, is also pending. These may be integrated with the project.

3. At present railway lines of Thampanoor Central Railway stations are clogged and several trains have to wait at the outskirts during peak hours. A railway siding is planned from Nemom to Vizhinjam, which in other words means that the container and goods train from all over Kerala will have to cross the busy Thampanoor to reach Nemom to proceed to Vizhinjam. The ideal solution is to look at the feasibility of a railway siding from Kazhakoottam passing through the VSSC, Tvm International Airport and Kovalam to reach Vizhinjam. All the good strains to Vizhinjam and Tamilnadu could be diverted through this line reducing the traffic congestion at Thampanoor Central Railway station. The passengers from all over Kerala can travel directly to the Thiruvanthapuram International Airport. The hundreds of employees of VSSC can get down at their offices without relying on taxis or autos. The thousands of Technopark employees can obtain cheap accommodation in small towns like like Chirayinkeezhu (triggering the economic development of that area) and come directly to Veli station and then move to Anayara Transport Hub to get any mode of transport to their offices. 

It is requested that all these proposals  may be included in the Capital Region Development Authority/Corporation as two flag ship projects – to beautify the East fort and to improve the public transport system of Thiruvananthapuram city.

24-6-2016                                                    BIJU PRABHAKAR           District Collector 

Elevated highway is more fast and economical for Kerala - a concept paper

Government of India as a special case has reduced the width of National Highway from the national pattern of 60 metres to 45 metres for Kerala due to the stiff opposition from people. Still the Government is unable to take possession of 45 metres of land and thinking of reducing it further to 30 metres width. Even after construction, there is likelihood of strong opposition against toll collection and because of this, there are few takers for the construction of road under BOT model, when Kazhakkuttom – Mukkola stretch was tendered by NHAI.

Apart from the land acquisition and displacement, another point for opposition is against the restrictions imposed on people on both side of the road to cross over when a new highway is built. Some of them may sometimes have to travel a few kilometres to cross the road. This is a thickly populated State and such restrictions will lead to never ending public protests. Transport buses plying through the new highways stopping at regular intervals, operation of the signal systems etc will further reduce the vehicular speed. In small towns, in the normal situation itself, flyovers will have to be built in full length.

The aforesaid reasons are the main causes of delay for widening of highways in Kerala. As a solution, even though costly, it is suggested that elevated highway is a feasible option for Kerala. In 45 metres normal highway, the effective road width for four lanes is only about 24 metres, other areas left for medians and service roads. For elevated highways, the cost of construction estimated will be around Rs.100 Crores per Kilometre for roads with 24 metres width. This is not a high cost if one compares the cost with certain stretch like Karamana – Kaliyikkavila, where widening of existing road to 30.2 metres itself, which has proved very costly.

Cost estimates from Karamana – Pravachambalam stretch come to Rs. 375.93 Cr as on date. The total length of the road between Karamana and Pravachambalam is 5.5 kilometres and it can be seen that per Kilometre cost has come to Rs.68.35 Crores. In short, for a normal highway with 45 metres width, the cost of construction would be around 75 Crores per Kilometre – this may be true at least in South Kerala. It is suggested that elevated highways is the only feasible option for Kerala especially between Kazhakkuttom to Thrissur or  even upto Kozhikkode, 

Advantages;

# Already 30 metres of land is available in most of this stretch and it is easy to build one elevated highway of four lanes without any further land acquisition. 

# The pedestals of elevated highways will occupy only 2 to 3 metres on ground and since no land acquisition is involved, the work can be commenced immediately. Otherwise, with resistance from people, it will take years to get the land acquisition completed and by the time the present cost of Rs.75 Crore per Kilometre will double or triple.

# No hardships for anyone due to land acquisition or displacement, and therefore no rehabilitation needed.

# People can cross freely between two sides below the elevated highway.

# Slow moving buses, which stop at every bus stop, can ply through the existing highway, and this will not slowdown vehicle at high speeds moving through elevated highway.

# No service roads are also required.

#There will not be any cross roads, nor pedestrians   on the elevated highway and this will facilitate non-stop travel between ways.

# Normally Rs.100-250 per vehicle is collected as toll in newly constructed national highway. Since people can travel below the elevated highway without paying toll, there is no opposition on collection of toll for the elevated highway and therefore a higher toll; say Rs. 500 to 750 per vehicle could be collected. For instance, today, it will take 5 to 6 hours for one to travel to Ernakulam from Thiruvananthapuram during peak hours. But in elevated highway, an average speed of about 80-100 Km (minimum) could be maintained and one can reach Ernakulam in 2.5 to 3 hours. After initial threshold period of 1 to 2 years, people will prefer to travel on elevated highway by paying higher toll, since there is substantial savings in time, fuel and maintenance of vehicles to them.

# Since there is no resistance from public against toll collection, more firms will come forward to build this on a BOT model or at least under VGF option.

#  Less fuel means, less import charges for petroleum products. Remember Kerala is one state where large numbers of vehicles are registered every day. There will be huge savings in terms of fuel import bills to the nation, which will offset the initial costs.

#  Last and most important reason is the possibility of substantial reduction in road accidents. Over 3500 lives are lost every year due to road accidents in Kerala. Several thousands are crippled. Apart from loss of lives and hardships, a substantial amount is given as insurance compensation. This will be reduced substantially since there are no pedestrians. Partial funding can be obtained from insurance companies also.

Issues to overcome

#  The construction of the elevated highways in narrow roads of Attingal etc without blocking the existing traffic is not possible. Land acquisition for bypass, widening of other by lanes to direct traffic may have to be studied and feasibility to worked out. 

#  Traffic diversion during construction may be necessary in some of the stretches.

#  The Access / Exit  inter-change ways, even though in restricted numbers could be constructed only after acquiring large tracts of land.

Considering all these, it was suggested to Govt   that as a pilot, the 60 Km stretch between Kazhakkuttom to Kollam may be taken up as elevated highway on experimental basis, in continuation to the Kazhakkuttom to Karode stretch, which is already taken up as 45 metres National Highway by NHAI. Total cost for 60 Km is estimated as Rs.6000 Crores, which is not a big sum to raise for the State. Once returns are forth coming as toll in the stretch, that will instil confidence in the minds of investors, and more firms will come forward to construct elevated highways on BOT model, without any investment for Government. I request that the feasibility of this proposal for a pilot project may be studied.

 (this is note recently given to the Govt and NHAI to think about a pilot project of elevated highway)

Manivarnan - The man who saved me from a major embarassment at Palakkad

See todays Mathribhoomi Front Page. The article written by Renjith, the famous film director - the director I love most after Padmarajan

I met the lead charter in the article of Renjith at the stage of Town hall , Palakkad -- the venue for HS and HSS drama Competition in Youth Festival - Time at around 1.30 am two days back. The Town hall, not acoustically designed, compounded by the inexperience of the light and sound contractor --- was witnessing noisy scenes that led to the arrest of Sasi the Famous film director-- just because of the bad acoustics. The dialouges were not at all audible. And the drama lovers has almost forced us to stop the drama competition altogether, in its midst. I visited the venue on 20th Jan, Monday - the first day and found that it was really not possible to conduct any drama competition there. The first two days, problems were averted , thanks to the efforts of Superindent of Police and a man of practical wisdom , Sh.Somasekhar IPS, who forsaw the brewing trouble and took stern actions in controlling the crowd.

What other alternative? Every venue is full with programme upt to 10 or 11 pm every day. Sivakumar, the leading camera man of C-DIT, my right hand man , in this  crisis hours and in the establishment of VICTERS channel in 2005, when I was the Executive Director of IT@SCHOOL, was there doing all permutations and combinations on the mike system during the night of 20th. On 21st, it was Sanskrit Drama - with lesser audiance and much lesser people understanding the dialogues. But I got feed back from Mathew, the Pathanamthitta Deputy Director of Education, the Stage Manager, who met me on 21st evening and warned about the possibility of disruption of Drama competion for HSS on the next day -22nd, a more serious one for the drama lovers. The special branch also warned me. I discussed the crisis with my collegues in the department and the organising committee on 21st evening, during our daily review meeting. After discussion, I prepared myself to go to the venue on 22nd morning in case of disruption, with our PLAN B , to announce that the Drama will be shifted to Main stage and some times it may start only at 12 midnight and run through the morning of the next day. Or we will award A Grade to all and cancel the event - much to the disappointment of good audiance of Palakkad.

Sivakumar and I went to town hall by 1 am on 21st night (22nd morning hours, when the HSS Drama is scheduled to commence by 9.30 am), after the Sanskrit drama was finished.I saw there  a group of youngsters making all kind of trial and error with their proeprties for performing the drama the next day. Sivakumar called the Light and sound guy. We replaced the sound mixer unit, changed positions of the speakers, cut some big speakers. I asked the man who was leading a team on the stage--- arranging the stage--- for next day's competition, to deliver some dialogues. He delivered. I stood in the hall at various locations and listened.  We found that the mike (a highly sensitive "Shure" one ) is not picking up at distances. We tried to add more mikes. Then came more or less an abuse, but a gentle abuse by any standrads, from the leading man on the stage, against me , directly to me. It was apparent that he knew that I was some one, some way connected with the conduct of the Youth Festival, and  seemed to have appreciated that two persons took the pains to come and inspect the stage at this wee hours. The gang might have appreciated our sincereity or our helplessness also. 

The man on stage gave some valuble inputs on how to arrange a stage for Drama.  He informed , the standrad dimensions for a drama stage are 24 X 12 feet, but here is a stage with 40 Ft width . This creates problems in the timimg of entry of the actors and that more the actors move farther away from hanging mike, the sound become inaudible. He gave me so many technical lessons in the next one hour. I remembered the days when we designed the VICTERS studio in 2005, with the help of professionals from Asianet, who gave such inputs. All such information were valuble to me. I understood the reasons why director Sasi and Priyananadan, protested. I understood the frustruation of students who were practicing for 3-4 months and protesting spontaneously after seeing their efforts turn futile, because of unscientific organisation for the event.   Finally I asked, "what should I do". And he said, Can you reduce this to 24 X  12 ft size, the standard for these kind of ametuer drama. I said I will arrange. Frankly, till that time I thought that it is all a protest by an intoxicated crowd. 

I called Dinakaran Mash, the Pandal Committee convener, who came within 10 minutes along with son of Yusaf, the contractor. I enquired them wether they can make the modifications needed by the man on the stage. Every one was aware of the problem. They said, they can arrange the materials, but not have enough man power at this hour. The man said, "no problem -- we will help them". The stage witnessed a great team work in the next four hours. Sivakumar forced me to go back to my room and I left by 230 am. He stood thorugh out, with out a wink of an eye , for me - on my behalf. It was a real real team work. 

The morning, I received a message from an unknown number

" Sir we have finished the setting of the stage  by early morning. I will never forget you in my life as your intiative supported us a lot" It was from the man on the stage, to whom I shared the number before I left. He confided to me when I left that he never knew that he was speaking to the DPI and said sorry for the harsh words, he spoke. 

On 22nd Morning, I called Mathew the DDE, and asked me to give a feed back after the first drama is over. It was  by 9.40 am when Mathew told me" Sir it is going smooth, so far no problems".  The crowd can hear the dialogues. I called Mathew every hour till noon, till I got myself convinced that every thing is on track.

Today by 11 am , the man on stage called me. He was very excited to inform me that he got grades much above the first prize winners from Kollam district and that too after his team coming here on the basis of an order from court, after being denied an appeal by the department. He was so excited and was profusely thanking me . I told him I should thank you man, because you saved me from a major emabarressment. And I asked him a favour-- to be my technical director, when I arrange a stage for the next years drama competition, and he readily agreed. I told him that I will be saving his number and we need to discuss on preparing the guidelines for stage arrangement, before next season. 

I have never seen one who is so passionate about the drama or for me , in any kind of art. I asked him" Hey man , what is your back ground. He advised me to read todays Mathrubhoomi and the article wriiten by Renjith- who know him for quite some time. I read the paper by 4 pm today. I smsed him

" Great. Just read it"

He is MANIVARNAN - A CC  Goonda  - confiscicating vehciles in his "Poorvasram"- who  reformed himself,  sheerly because of his  love for art. 

Here is the article. 

Hub & Spoke schools - Govt schools kill Govt schools-- not the unaided CBSE and ICSE schools alone

Often every one from the teachers to the society criticizes the Govt decision to allow more private schools in the unaided sector and this is attributed as one of the main reasons for the  down fall of the Govt and aided schools. The reduction in population growth rate is also attributed as another reason. These two alone can be treated as the main reason. I have a different theory regarding schools becoming uneconomic. Thiruvananthapuram city has - Cotton Hill and

Manacaud - both govt girls Higher Secondary schools - schools faring really well. Cotton Hill has more than 6000 students and Manacaud has around 3000. At the same time there are 30 schools in the city, which are having less than or around 100 students on the verge of closure. The Jagathy High School, just a km away from Cotton hill, only 58 students.

 The parents of the students who are sending children to the the Cotton Hill or Manacaud Govt girls high schools cannot afford to send their children to an unaided school because of the fees there. If they can afford or even interested in doing that, they would have done that. Most of them are so  poor and they continue to send their children to govt or aided schools, since education is free. But having left with this as the only option, and since they want their children to get better education, they sent them to Cotton Hill or Mancaud , which has better standards than the other 30 schools in the city. When all the students in a particular catchment area move towards one or two schools, it is natural that other schools will have only lesser students and become uneconomic. In such uneconomic schools , there are only those students, whose parents do not want to take pains to send them to the two  prestigious govt schools--- may be because, they cannot travel longer distance or they may be least bothered or even illiterate or socially backward enough to bother or may be due to other reasons , which we will have to study. 

The Cotton Hill or Manacuad has a PTR of 1 :45 where as Attakulangara has 15 teachers and 64 students -- PTR 1:4. If the excess teachers from Attakulangara and other city schools are brought to Cotton Hill, then the PTR of that school could be reduced to say 1:40 or 1:30 - and we could provide better care and education at Cotton Hill .

This could be easily achieved through grouping of schools under a Hub-and- spoke arrangement. We  need to have feeder schools for Cotton Hill and Manacuad - My suggestion is to have Pre-primary section exclusively in one school (it may some times be a High school or UP school but converted as pre-primary school),  LP in another nearby and UP in another near by school. Cotton hill will have only HS and HSS and it along with Manacaud will absorb all the girl students going to HS and HSS classes from Trivandrum City- thus  a Hub and Spoke arrangement can be established. The Hub school will manage the spoke schools also, through an academic council , consisting of HMs and also PTA + Local LSG representatives of all the hub & spoke schools  . The result will be that four schools will benefit from the good management practices of Cotton Hill school. Only in remote places, schools from - 2 to +2 will have to be set up - all under one roof. In short, what the education department is trying is to raise the standards of education in all the schools using the best management practices of well run schools.  

One disadvantage of this proposal is that a student from Karamana or Peroorkada will have to travel to Cotton Hill, which can be addressed by sending more buses of Cotton hill to that area (which they already do) , and travel can be made free or subsidized with the financial assistance of Local self Governments. The department  is also thinking  of a fleet of school buses from a common pool will pick and drop students for the group of schools. This could be implemented easily if the parent teachers associations as well as local self governments also contribute towards the expenses. 

Sterilisation of stray dogs – the only solution?

      The Malayalam newspapers, for last two days, report that people cannot walk or ride in bikes in Thriuvananthapuram city in Kerala. Stray dogs attack in packs any one  on the streets. Two years ago, stray dogs tore a one-year old baby girl into pieces , at Vizhinjam, not so far away from the State capital. Don't feel sad or angry or disgusted -- we can afford to lose one from 1.2 billion population. The right of a stray dog is more precious to us than the life of a little human being. I don’t understand why these restrictions on killing of stray dogs? Why can't a District Collector initiate actions against this 'public nuisance'  under Cr.PC?

Dont do any thing against this street dog; it has a right to live

 Let me tell you, based on my three years experience in the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd -KMSCL (central procurement agency for drugs and equipments for government hospitals), I  suspect that facts were twisted before the Hon Court by the anti-rabies vaccine mafia in getting a ban on the killing of stray dogs. (See news: Top lawyers appeared in the Hon.SC- Who pays for their appearance?.) In this country, you can kill cows, buffaloes,  goats, pigs, ducks, hens, even the cute rabbits. And every day that is being done under the most inhumane conditions. No one protests. No one feel sad.  

society plays their role

Visit any government owned or illegal abattoir and see how cruel these animals and poultry ( which don’t attack you even when provoked) are being butchered. Strange but true, you cannot kill a dog in this country while you can kill any other animal/bird not protected under the Wildlife Act. And that’s what the Local self Govts say as the reason for this menace,in their defense. What is so sacrosanct about dogs.? Why the life of a street dog is nobler than the life of a cow or any poultry being killed by us? Or is there any rule which permits you to kill any living being for your food? If that is the logic, then in some parts of our own country and in the East Asian countries, dog meat is also a food.  

Look who were all there in the Court for stray dogs

    Dont form an opinion that I hate dogs. I too have three dogs at my home and they are our dear dear pets. But I keep them in the confines of my home, without allowing them to create any trouble to anyone.I let lose them to the street then I cannot protest if someone kills them, when they bite. Dog is one of man's most loyal friend, no doubt - at our homes, not on the streets.

    

 It is a news when our Davood sponsored cricketers  are threatened 

      The KMSCL alone purchase anti rabies vaccine (which has an MRP around Rs.250/vial at a lower price of  Rs.115/vial in tenders) every year and supply to Government hospitals. December 2012 alone witnessed consumption of 70000 vials. Rs. 3 to 5 Cr is the average annual expenditure of KMSCL for this vaccine, a lower spend, thanks to the IDRV route of administration(0.2 ml/ dose). The annual expenditure was around Rs.7 -10 Cr  per year in the early years of KMSCL when Intra Muscular route (which consumes more - 1ml/dose) was followed for vaccination. This is the expenditure for the government hospitals of Kerala, where only 30% of the population goes.  This is the yearly spend on account of anti-rabies vaccine, not to mention about the cost incurred on equine (Rs.350/vial- KMSCL rate) or human (Rs.3200/vial-KMSCL rate) anti-rabies immunoglobulin, which also sometimes administered along with the vaccine (depending on the market interest of the doctor who administer it). Think about the market for anti-rabies vaccine for the whole of India? Think and find the astronomical figures. Now you understand who is behind the ‘friends of street dogs’? Why top notch lawyers defend stray dogs in courts and get an order treating them as endangered species. The ‘friends of street dogs’ go to any extent to prevent the killing of stray dogs. Still, we  have some relief. There is no one to protect the rights of mosquitos and fleas of this country. More street dogs more vaccine. Equation clear? And sterilization of stray dogs is prescribed as the only cure for this problem that threaten the life of man on the streets. Society also contributes  and play their part.We feed them and allow to multiply through the thrash we throw on road side. Don’t expect anything more from a society, which is already sterilised.

Tail piece: There is one lady, biggest advocate for the  rights of stray dogs, who writes regularly about the virtues of  being a vegetarian. I was recently in South Korea and saw the Koreans eat almost all animals/birds/sea-food, they find on earth. They appeared to be lean and very healthy than any average Indian. Korea’s health indicators  are at par with those of developed nations. And also believe me, there is more pesticide in the vegetables than in meat (which is also not safe), as found in the studies conducted by the Kerala Agricultural University recently,. The University found traces of 12 pesticides, including those of malathion, in our ordinary ‘curry vep’. Vegetarians are also not safe in this country.

POLICY PAPER: POLICY FOR INTRODUCING NEW SCHEMES THROUGH PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO MAKE THE KERALA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION (KSRTC)  EFFICIENT AND PROFITABLE.

                                                                      

 Biju Prabhakar IAS

                                                                                        

Policy Recommendation:

KSRTC – The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, is making losses every day and it cannot be allowed to be closed down, crushed under the ever increasing losses, as it provides vital service and also act as price-control mechanism in the public transport sector. It is necessary to turn it around and this is proposed through a major change in  policy of the government, which now requires KSRTC to undertake every activity on its own and instead, ushering in public-private partnership in some key areas, where the management lacks  resources and expertise.

 

Back ground:

The KSRTC, the biggest public sector Unit of Kerala, is constantly in the red, with accumulated losses of Rs.1529 Cr as on 31^st March 2012. Every month, it incurs a loss of Rs.58 Cr on an average, and this is showing an upward trend. The support from Government is minimal. At the same time, the Government, as part of appeasing various sections of the society, decided in the past to give concessions to students, freedom fighters and even to journalists, who command handsome perks and allowances. On an average, a student spends Rs.55/month and travels 500 km per month.  In addition to this, the political pressure from MLAs, MPs and Local Self Government functionaries force the Corporation to ply buses to uneconomical routes, often to remote places. The middle management consists of promotees from the lower cadres and not aware of the modern management techniques and often not capable of handling higher responsibilities. The e-governance programme started some years ago has not created any impact. The biggest blow to the corporation occurred when, in the year 1984, the Government without grasping the long term implications, introduced Pension scheme at par with Government employees. KSRTC has 26705 permanent staff, 13275 casual staff and about 200 officers. The number of pensioners as on date is 35354, and soon will surpass the number of serving employees.  The pension amount comes to around Rs 409 Cr, the salary bills around Rs.644 Cr and it requires, Rs.1053 Cr every year to pay the salary and pension. The monthly income is around Rs.139 Cr and Rs.149 Cr is needed as operational expenses, which include salary of the staff. If the pension amount is taken out, the KSRTC can make a profit of Rs.23 Cr every month. It is time for a major policy change, in the operation of the Corporation and this is proposed to be achieved through introduction of Public Private Partnerships in key areas.

Rationale for Policy Change:

The salary bills, the pension benefits, the operational expenses – cost of fuel, spare parts, tyres, etc are going up every year and therefore the accumulated losses will also shoot up. The losses have to arrested, the Corporation needs to be made efficient and profit generating, so that it need not depend on the government for its funding every year. The surplus funds generated from its operation could be invested in better infrastructure and facilities, thereby, providing better service to the passengers. It could also pay back the investments made by the government once it is on a self footing, contributing to the public exchequer. If some drastic steps are not taken at this stage, the cash starved coffers of the government will be drained further, as the government cannot close down this essential public service.

Alternatives & Comparative Analysis:

Alternative 1: Government taking over the pension expenses of all the present and future KSRTC pensioners as in the case of the other government employees. This will take away the liability of paying Rs.409 Cr every year or more from the KSRTC revenues and also permit the Corporation to come out of the red, to use the operational profits not only for meeting the operational expenses including salary of its existing staff, but also to provide some cash reserves for making meaningful investments in priority areas such as capacity addition of buses, modernising bus stations and other facilities, etc..

Alternative 2: Government to provide soft loans to the Corporation as working capital or arrange for interest free loans from funding agencies. This will not wipe out the losses in one step, but will provide for making  investments in improving the infrastructure and buses.

Alternative 3: Government to issue orders for voluntary pension scheme or even stop the pension scheme for those retiring from the service during this year onwards.

Alternative 4: Invite PPP, which will bring in resources, expertise and efficiency in the following areas.

a.  Construction of Bus stations as Shopping Mall cum Multiplexes. This is an idea which was mooted in the year 2001 and some steps were taken towards its fulfilment. But later, a new entity, Kerala  Transport Development Financing Corporation (KTDFC) was constituted and construction of multiplexes was entrusted to it. The KTDFC borrowed money from outside and had taken up the job, but ultimately, it is public money. Another defect in the scheme, was that the built up area was limited to a portion of the large acreage of land . The KSRTC bus stations are   prime locations of any city or town and every inch matters. The buses can be parked in the ground floor or basement floors of multi-storied building built above it, occupying the entire area of the prime land, in strict compliance with the provisions of the Kerala Municipal Building Rules. After completion, the operation and maintenance of the built up space is planned to be taken up again in a governmental way, leading to customer dissatisfaction.  The operation and maintenance of the entire facility could be entrusted to some reliable Facility Management Agency, on the basis of a performance based revenue sharing system. The customer satisfaction level in this arrangement will be at maximum.

b.  CNG Pumps in KSRTC bus stations: The diesel prices are going up and soon will be decontrolled. This will further increase the operational costs. Pilferage is common and KSRTC has not estimated the losses on account of this. The environmental pollution from the diesel engines and the hazardous wastes generated by the buses, the high maintenance and replacement costs of engines are issues to be addressed. Delhi Transport Corporation had switched from diesel to CNG. CNG is not so popular in Kerala, due to small number of filling stations. The proposal is to convert all the buses into CNG and set up CNG filling stations by the side of the road, so that KSRTC as well as other vehicle owners can avail the facility. This can be done as a revenue sharing model and also put an end to pilferage, as CNG cannot be transported in cans and sold elsewhere.

c. Wet lease of Buses: It is a practice in any State, every new government/Minister announces to introduce 1000 more buses, as and when they assume power. It is not necessary to purchase buses. The buses, especially the long distance buses can be hired on long term contract for 5 to 7 years, with driver, and by ensuring 95% uptime. There is no requirement of paying pension to the driver, no need for maintenance and spares, no tyre replacement, and the rates of this arrangement will be lesser than  the running cost (including staff cost and pension) of the KSRTC owned buses.The vehicle manufacturers can also ‘dry lease’ the buses or on an annuity model, so that the initial investment is reduced.

d.  Courier Services: KSRTC has a net work spanning the entire State, covering the nooks and corners. The buses are not designed to carry parcels and the luggage on the top of buses, has its own problems of loading and unloading. First requirement of this strategy is to acquire buses that can hold parcels in its belly and ply them in long distance routes. The logistics of sorting the parcels, loading/unloading and delivery, has to be entrusted to a courier company, which will manage through a software driven parcel tracking system. The KSRTC bus stands will also act as collection points.

e. On-line reservation and Booking agents: All the seat arrangements of long distance buses are to be mapped and displayed on line, so that public can book tickets on line. KSRTC is presently doing this and hardly 500 passengers avail this facility. The season tickets could be introduced as smart cards, with readers on every bus, the students’ concession and other ticketing arrangements could be outsourced to private agents. This will ensure more sales and also relieve the public of the hard ships of coming to the Bus stations for getting them, as they are either delivered by post or obtained from the agents at their shops.

f. Advertisements in Buses and Bus stations: KSRTC has not yet tapped the potential revenue from advertisements, except leasing out space for a few hoardings here and there and also on some of the buses. It is possible to completely turn towards digital bill boards, installed on vantage points on the buildings, inside buses as on LED/LCD displays (updated through a Wi-Fi, when the buses enters a station). This could be effectively undertaken through private agencies.

g. Shared purchase of Buses:The long distance buses, especially inter-state buses have to be treated as a profit centre and the investment on the buses shall be done through floating of equity shares. The revenues and expenses of the buses shall be separately accounted and profit shall be shared between the share holders at the end of every month/quarter. The investment can first come from the employees and later from general public, after  demonstrating the proof of concept. This model will ensure the participation of employees and create a sense of belonging among them.

On evaluating the four alternatives listed above, it could be seen that, the first two alternatives, will require additional funds from the government, which will be near impossible under the precarious financial position of the State.The third alternatives is a hard political decision, jeopardising the income and benefits of over 34,000 families, they enjoyed till the other day. Borrowing from the funding agencies/banks will be costly option. The pros and cons of the fourth alternative are discussed as follows;

                    i.            The private sector will bring in resources, expertise and efficiency and the result will be increased customer satisfaction.

                  ii.            The much needed capital is also brought in by the Private sector so that expansion programmes and other capital investments could be undertaken in a phased manner.

                iii.     The conversion of buses into CNG driven and also hiring out space for setting up CNG filling stations to private sector will popularise the use of CNG in heavy vehicles and this will reduce pollution and subsequent health issues, through out the State.

                iv.   The passengers will be offered every facility from good toilets to good hotels, shops in the multiplexes and the performance based management system ensures that such facilities are maintained well.

Coming to the problems that may be confronted, is the strong opposition from trade unions against involvement of private agencies in the above sectors. There will be opposition against leasing out space for setting up CNG stations, outsourcing the booking operations etc. But all these oppositions could be over come when better pay and perks are offered to the employees, when the income start coming from the schemes mentioned.

Other requirements:

a.  Instead of undertaking the above activities by the mammoth Corporation directly, it will be ideal to create a SPV as a subsidiary company, with 74% equity from the KSRTC, with professionals at the top to manage the private partners and for better accountability. The involvement of employees can be ensured through issuing one share each to every employee for the remaining 26% so that their representative is also included in the Board of new SPV.

b.  Negotiations with the employees is a pre-requisite, as a confidence building measure and also part of transparency of the arrangements with private sector.

Monitoring & Evaluation:

a. Monitoring and evaluation shall be done on the basis of Key Performance Indicators, which shall be part of the concessionaire agreement, for the respective services offered.

b. This shall be done at two levels, one at the Bus depot level (treated as a profit centre) and another at the State level by Committee headed by the Hon.Transport Minister.

Conclusion:

            The financial problems of KSRTC cannot be solved over night. The ever increasing accumulated losses donot allow the Corporation to grow and provide efficient services to its customers, but always depending on the government for any capital investment. The resource crunch prevents the government from taking up the huge recurring commitment in terms of the pensionary benefits of over 34000 persons. The customer services are hit because of all these issues and the major policy change to bring in private sector will provide with resources and efficiency. This will generate substantial income and in 10 years, the accumulated losses could be wiped off, provide better pay and perks to the existing employees and to a certain extent to the pensioners through contributory pension scheme.The substantial cash inflow expected will help the Corporation to come out of the present financial situation, provide adequate fund for new investments and ultimately benefit the customers through better service. The decision to be taken by the Ministry at this stage is to permit the corporation to go in for PPP model of operations in the above mentioned areas for which discussions with the Unions have to be started immediately.

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FOOD SAFETY & CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN KERALA

Kerala has made a progressive stride in its steps towards preventing the manufacture and trade of uncontrolled illicit liquor by bringing in the entire foreign liquor trade in the State under the Beverages Corporation. The taxation system prevalent in the State is that the liquor on the basis of its alcoholic content are taxed very heavily. On a comparison with other States, it can be found that the tax rates are so high in the state that most of the smugglers use, Mahe, (a part of Pondicherry State, where taxes are lowest)  and also use border check-posts  as conduits for smuggling of illegal liquor in to this State. This should have been at par with the tax rates of other states and it is unlikely that we can lower the tax rates at this stage, due to the huge loss in revenue anticipated. But it may be noted that the after the banning, the clear arrack is coming in a coloured form in the guise of foreign liquor.   The high tax regime has raised concerns in food safety of almost all sections of the male population of the State. Let me share some thoughts on this issue. (In the Gods own land of controversies, please understand that the views  expressed here are purely professional from the food safety point of view, and all the Governments, for the last few decades are following the same policy, more or less in the same lines, thinking that  High tax regime and holiday on the first day of a month will reduce consumption of liquor(sic))

1.     Preventing working class from consuming hard liquor: Though cheap liquor is purchased by the Beverage Corporation, a high tax regime prohibits the common man/working class to consume the foreign liquor sold by govt run outlets.  The result is that, he has to depend on illicit liquor, brewed with prohibited materials and in unhygienic condition,  and this often leads the government to embarrassing situations in the form of hooch tragedies. And governments, in the past, announced Rs.5 lakh per victim to tide over public anger. It may be kindly understood that even in gulf countries, where punishments like beheading or flogging in public has failed to prevent the manufacture and trade of illegal liquor. Any wise government will have to acknowledge that the consumption of liquor cannot be prevented by just raising the taxes and making the commodity prohibitively costly. That will help only illegal market to grow. It is necessary in the interest of the working class that the govt should provide them with an opportunity to take good quality liquor at a lesser cost, but with government’s control need to be there on the alcohol content and without the private manufacturers taking benefit undue advantage. The solution proposed is to manufacture good quality cheap liquor, with low alcohol percentage, at the government run Chittor sugars or Pandalam sugars and make them available through the beverages corporation/consumerfed outlets. Unless this is done, we are encouraging the mixing on illegal spirit in toddy and the health of our working class is being affected badly. In the olden days, the working class preferred country toddy, after a day’s hard labour, but the available material also has become an unsafe commodity. (see point 5 below). This high alcohol content liquor is UNSAFE, as it is spoiling the health of the our working class.

2.     Preventing younger generation from consuming hard liquor: The second class of citizens whose health is adversely affected because of the inadvertent promotion of hard liquor by the government is the youth of the State. We cannot prevent the youth from the consumption of alcohol especially when they are in parties/get-together, which are part of the vibrancy of their age.  In every such get-together, the youth generation is forced to consume the hard liquor because the cost of low alcohol beverages like beer and wine are prohibitively high in the State. So it is natural for anyone to buy and consume a half-a-pint of hard liquor rather than going for a bottle of wine or few bottles of beer. In several western countries, beer is considered in equivalent to any other beverages like Coke and Pepsi. In a recent article in the 'Times of India' exploring on why the consumption of alcohol is not affecting the health of Europeans, even they consume on a daily basis, the main reason is stated therein to be the consumption of beverages with low alcohol percentage, where Indians consume more hard liquor in short span of time.  In almost all the metros in India, ‘Beer pubs’ are common. It may also be acknowledged that the high cost of beer and wine has led to the failure of KTDC's Beer/Wine Parlours.  It may be also be noted that even in the Technopark, where about 30,000 employees are working, of which over 95% are in their prime youth, do not have Beer/Wine Parlours. They are forced to take hard liquor from the nearby Bar. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to bring down the taxes on beer and wine. There is also a major policy shift to establish large number of Beer Parlours along with 2 Star/3 Star Hotels or even in common hotels to make available this low alcoholic beverage to the younger generation.  If this is not done, the Government may unknowingly make all the younger generation, habitual drinkers of hard liquors and not only the future generations become alcoholic but also the Government has to spend most of its revenue generated from foreign liquor on their health care. The increase in consumption of low alcohol drinks will ensure that there will not be any drop in tax revenue. But, at the same time,  the health expenditure will also come down.

3.     Prevention of illegal trade of foreign made foreign liquor: Thirdly, the Government expect that any decent person in the State has to stand in the queue of the shabby Beverages Corporation's outlets along with thugs and crooks.  This is the reason for the high surge in the sale of scotch and other foreign brand in the 'smugglers market'.  Unconfirmed studies estimate that, the market for sale of scotch and other imported brands in Kerala is around Rs.750/- Crores per year.  The Government is not getting a single paisa as tax except from the sale of liquor in the Duty Free Shops. There is also a high prevalence of spurious liquor in the imported liquor market (which affects the health of its good citizens). The Government can immediately raise around Rs.100/- Crores, as tax, if  super market type of shops for imported brands and premium Indian brands are opened in all the district headquarters, where the high/upper class and the rich can walk-in, select their own brand rather than standing in the queue before the Beverage Corporation outlet officials. Delhi and other metros have already started these kind of shops.  This will not only ensure the availability of, again the quality liquor which will not affect the health of the people, but also the Government can immediately get a sizeable income from the sale. But the present taxing system on liquor may not be made applicable in this case, since the prices will become substantially high, when compared with the prices in the "smuggler's market" and there will be few takers. Therefore, a 50 to 100 percent increase in tax may be ideal, where customers are even willing to give extra amount to the tune of Rs.300/- to Rs.500/- per bottle, since the liquor supplied is a genuine brand. This policy will  take care of the health of the upper and upper middle class and Government spend will be less.

4.     License fees for the Clubs and Wayside restaurants  When the Government started giving licenses for Bar in clubs, the fee was fixed at Rs.50,000 per year. Now, I am told that this almost equal to that of bar licenses.  Government has to issue licenses for beer and wine parlours in clubs, and in all types of small hotels in the level of ‘Aramam’ of the KTDC. The ‘Vazhiyoram’ project of the tourism department would have created a network of safe hotels, a boon to the travelling population, since they are controlled by the department. It is understood that one of the reasons it did not take off since, the beer/wine permit was not issued. There is a need for giving beer and wine permits to all the clubs and those wayside hotels under the department control. This measure will encourage the consumption of low alcohol beverages. This policy will again promote the low alcohol content beverages.

5.     The adulteration of Toddy:  Its is a secret known to all. Kerala taps 4 lakh litres of toddy from coconut and palm and consumes 20 lakh liters annually. Where does this ‘16 lakh litres’ come from? Synthetic toddy. Is it restricted to permitted chemicals and vegetables? No. It contains all known and unknown chemicals and high degree of spirit smuggled in, not to mention Diazepam and chloral – harmful drugs added to increase the ‘kick’. Where is this leading to? We are again ruining the health of our working class knowingly. The wayside toddy shops are frequented by the lorry drivers day and night, and the mixed alcohol is one of the causes of high accident rates of Kerala.  Toddy is to be treated as a luxury good. Permit rooms have to be attached to the hotels with Bar licenses. The rates at these hotels for pure toddy have to be high. The benefit will go to the toddy tappers. Upper and middle class will consume and that will also yield more tax to the Government. The public has to be offered choice-- between low alcohol toddy or hard liquor at a Bar. Time has come to stop the auctioning of toddy shops – it has to move to a permit system.

          In all the instances suggested above, it can be seen that the Government has to spend on the health care an equal amount of whatsoever amount generated out of the sale of foreign liquor.  If the Government policy continues like this, it is likely that the Health Care spend will become multi-fold in the years to come, as the whole generation would become addicted to hard liquor, affecting their vital organs. We are spoiling a whole new generation because of flawed liquor policy aimed, at least in paper, for discouraging people from consumption of alcohol, but levying exorbitant taxes. Therefore, a major paradigm shift in the policy of sale of foreign liquor in the State of Kerala is the need of the hour.