A host of issues, such as deployment of inexperienced drivers, mechanical weakening of old vehicles, and lack of rest for the staff, have been cited as possible reasons for a series of road accidents involving buses operated by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in recent weeks.
In the latest incident on the morning of August 8, Mithilesh and N.M. Arun, the driver and conductor, respectively, of a Kozhikode-Bengaluru super deluxe bus, died after the vehicle overturned at Bidadi on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway. Around 25 people have been injured. A woman was killed and several others injured when a KSRTC bus veered off the Nelliyampathy ghat road and fell into a depth in Palakkad district on August 3. There have been many such road accidents involving KSRTC buses in the recent past; many people have sustained injuries in these incidents, and there have been casualties too.
According to KSRTC staff who do not wish to be quoted, the deployment of an inexperienced driver could be one of the reasons for the Bidadi accident. Mithilesh was a temporary staff on empanelled service who joined the organisation just recently. This is reportedly in violation of a directive issued by the corporation management on June 23 to deploy only experienced and permanent staff as drivers on all super-class services, such as super fast, super deluxe and fast passenger buses. Also, Mithilesh had just completed a trip to Mysuru from Kozhikode on the morning of August 7 and was reportedly not given enough rest before being asked to join duty again. It has also been claimed that the practice of deploying driver-cum-conductors in trips lasting more than five hours was not followed.
Meanwhile, another section of KSRTC staff says that the deployment of over-decade-old buses could be a reason for the frequent accidents on Kerala roads. Normally, buses that have been used in the super-class services for five years are converted to ordinary buses. After 13 years, these vehicles are scrapped. The last time the KSRTC purchased vehicles in bulk was in the 2011-16 period. The drivers and conductors point out that a majority of the buses are now at least a decade or more old.
Since the registration certificate of buses older than 15 years cannot be renewed on the Parivahan portal, the Transport department is reportedly issuing orders extending their registration. Another issue is their mechanical weakness. Buses that have run in the superclass series for five years would have crossed at least 10 lakh km on the road. The staff claim that their maintenance and condition of spare parts are often overlooked, as these buses are again deployed as ordinary buses.
Meanwhile, the KSRTC management in a statement said that Transport Minister C.P. John was in touch with his Karnataka counterparts to coordinate the rescue operations. The KSRTC staff in Bengaluru had reached the accident spot too. A special team from the corporation is camping in various hospitals to review the condition of the injured passengers. The KSRTC would bear their treatment cost.
Published – August 08, 2026 08:12 pm IST
