‘Electric buses should operate within city’: T’puram Mayor stands firm; to check KSRTC profit share

Thiruvananthapuram: The City Corporation’s governing council has reiterated its stand that the electric buses handed over to KSRTC as part of the Smart City project should operate only within the city limits. A total of 113 electric buses were provided to KSRTC.

Mayor V V Rajesh said the Corporation had purchased and handed over the electric buses to KSRTC using Smart City funds with the aim of reducing air pollution in the city, and therefore they should be operated within the city itself. He pointed out that a major number of the 113 buses purchased by the Corporation are currently being operated in several other parts of the state.

The Mayor added that the Corporation would examine whether KSRTC has paid the profit share due to it under the agreement for the period during which the electric buses have been in operation.

Sreelakha opens office

On Tuesday, R Sreelakha opened her office at the municipal building in Sasthamangalam. The office has been set up in the same room where a councillor’s office had functioned earlier, adjacent to the MLA’s office.

Sreelakha shared two posts on social media, continuing the controversy. Stating that she had begun public service from a small space, she shared photographs of inaugurating the office by lighting a lamp, with an image of Bharatamba placed on a chair. In her note, she mentioned that the room is very small, measuring barely 70–75 square feet, and that tonnes of waste surround the building. She also shared a video showing the waste.

She wrote that a committed public servant can function even from such a place, adding that 18 people had visited her office by noon and that she was satisfied to have helped them.

Both the councillor’s office and the office of CPM MLA V K Prasanth function in the same building. The controversy began after Sreelakha asked MLA V K Prasanth to vacate his office, citing space constraints for the councillor’s office. The CPM and Prasanth responded that they would not vacate the room and were prepared to face legal action. With K S Sabarinath also criticising V K Prasanth, the issue has turned into a political confrontation between the Congress and the CPM.