‘E bus is profitable, opposition blabbers without studying facts', says Antony Raju 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Antony Raju MLA informed the assembly that e-bus is profitable. Transport Workers' Federation (TWF) working president M Vincent MLA had the other day said that there are irregularities in the purchase of e-buses by the KSRTC and the revenue and expenditure figures of the buses were not real. Antony Raju replied in the assembly raising this.

There was news that e-bus will be introduced in the Congress-ruled state of Karnataka. He also pointed out that there are plans to introduce e-buses in Telangana and Himachal Pradesh. E-bus is fine in the state ruled by you. However, Antony Raju criticized that it is not correct to say that it is a loss in Kerala. He said that e-bus is more profitable than diesel bus. Antony Raju said the opposition is blabbering without studying and understanding facts.

Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar had stated that four diesel buses can be bought with the amount of an electric bus. Vincent MLA levelled serious allegation after this.

‘The management bought 50 buses of PMI without evaluating the quality. The report of the expert committee which examined the quality of the buses should be released. According to the management, there is a daily revenue of Rs 6026 per bus and a daily expenditure of Rs 4752. If added the loan repayment and the expense of changing the battery of the bus, there will be an additional cost of Rs 4546. An electric bus runs at a loss of Rs 3273 per day. There will be a loss of Rs 5.89 crores for 50 buses annually, said M Vincent.