THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Transport Minister AK Saseendran on Thursday said that KSRTC has been given permission to purchase 360 ​​buses at a cost of Rs 286.50 crore. 50 electric buses for fast passenger and 310 CNC buses for super fast will be procured.

For the purchase of 50 electric buses, the KSRTC will obtain Rs 27.50 crore as the Centre's share after deducting the subsidy under the Centre's Fame II scheme. The remaining 259 crores will be obtained as loan from KIIFB at 4% interest.

In 2017, KIIFB was ready to allot Rs 300 crore to KSRTC for purchasing 900 buses. However, the management chose to rent private buses for long-distance trips. This was pointed out by Kerala Kaumudi on February 15, 2020. Following this, Minister AK Sasindran asked Corporation MD MP Dinesh to explain the reason for not buying the bus and to give details of the follow-up action. Soon, the MD submitted a report stating that the KSRTC would purchase 410 buses.