Bengaluru, (Samajweekly) The cash-crunch Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Friday rolled out parcel and cargo services in its buses across the southern state to make-up for revenue loss incurred due to the Covid pandemic since April 2020.
“The ‘Namma Cargo’ service by KSRTC and its affiliates (NWKRTC & NEKRTC) will carry parcels and freight over and under its passenger buses across the state and select locations in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana,” an official said here.
The overnight cargo service, flagged off by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa here in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who holds the transport portfolio, is estimated to generate about Rs 80 crore revenue to the state-run KSRTC annually.
The state-run corporations used to operate 14,500 buses daily, carrying 38 lakh passengers and covering 51-lakh km across the state and neighbouring states during the pre-Covid times on its intra-state and inter-state routes.
“In phase-1, the cargo service will be available at 109 bus stations, covering 188 towns and cities in the state and 21 places in neighbouring states. The service will be extended in phases to more stations in the southern region,” said the official.
The corporation also plans to launch ‘home delivery’ service to ferry parcels and goods to citizens across the state in response to enquiries from about 1,000 netizens through e-mail and social media platform Facebook and micro-blogging site Twitter.
Ahead of the launching the service, Savadi told reporters here on Thursday the three state-run corporations have been generating Rs 35 crore by ferrying goods to mobilise additional revenue.
The cargo service will be operated by the three transport corporations through Strategic Outsourcing Ltd, which provides logistic infrastructure.
