The Kerala government has formed a four-member committee to examine complaints about bus timings and demands raised by private bus operators after the launch of the Priyadarshini scheme, with the panel required to submit its report within six weeks.
The committee will review the difficulties reported by private bus operators’ organisations and examine complaints related to the timing of bus services across the state. The government has directed its members to hold direct meetings with stakeholders before submitting their findings.
K. Suresh Babu, a member of the State Transport Authority, will chair the committee. Senior deputy transport commissioner CVM Shareef has been appointed its convener.
The other members are G P Pradeep Kumar, executive director of operations at the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, and R J Sanjay, a technical officer at the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre.
The panel will conduct stakeholder meetings in the Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode regions. These three regions will provide the locations for direct discussions with private bus operators and other stakeholders affected by the bus timing complaints and the operational issues linked to the Priyadarshini scheme.
The government’s decision places the timing of bus services and the concerns of private operators within a formal administrative review process. The inclusion of representatives from the State Transport Authority, the KSRTC and the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre brings together regulatory, state-run transport and transport-planning perspectives in the committee.
The Priyadarshini scheme has become the immediate context for the operators’ demands, although the report supplied does not provide details of the scheme’s operational design, the specific timing changes under dispute or the number of services or operators affected. It also does not specify whether the committee will recommend changes to routes, schedules, permits or other operating conditions.
The committee has a maximum of six weeks to complete its review and submit its report to the state government. Its next formal step will be the direct consultations planned in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode.
