Idling low-floor buses to ply on Vyttila route

KOCHI: The low-floor buses, which have been lying idle for the past many   months in the Ernakulam depot, are likely to be pressed into service in a few weeks' time in the Vyttila-Vyttilla circle. The Road Transport Authority officials, Deputy Transport Commissioner and Police Commissioner will meet on April 4 to take a final decision in this regard. “District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth has informed us that he would convene a meeting on April 4 to take a decision on inducting these buses to the fleet of existing buses,” said RTO T J Thomas.    The six low-floor Non-AC buses, which were allotted to Kochi under the    Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Rural Mission (JNNURM) prior to the  Sabarimala season, are  lying idle for the past four months at the depot. There were allegations that the RTO office had denied permits for the buses   as KSRTC had delayed the requests. However, Thomas said the permits to KSRTC buses plying on routes not  specified to them should be given by the RTA. “We cannot give permission to  run KSRTC buses on the routes not specified for them. At the moment, we have  given permits to these six buses to ply through the Muvattapuzha region. But the official nod to start the buses through the Vyttilla-Vyttila route will only be taken once the decision is made,” he said.Though a meeting of the officials had been announced several times, they  were postponed because of several reasons. Sources said a meeting was  convened soon after Piravom bypoll but had to be postponed as some officials were busy with their engagements. Officials said the delay in operating the services was mainly because of the standoff between the officials of the KSRTC and the RTO with regard to the issue of permit. They hoped that the meeting would help in solving the issues between the officials.