Transport Minister Antony Raju on Saturday flagged off ‘Gramavandi’, the rural bus service launched by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in association with local bodies, at Chathamangalam in Kozhikode district.
Mr. Raju said that the service would be extended to all parts of the State in phases. If grama panchayats were willing to implement it, the KSRTC would arrange the bus, conductor, and driver. The government would also consider running small private buses that had been making losses of late in the project, he added. The first day of the service was free of charges for all the passengers at Chathamangalam.
The service will start at 7.10 a.m. from the Kozhikode depot of the KSRTC and return at 6.35 p.m. The grama panchayat will pay the diesel bill. The bus will run through the routes and follow the time schedule fixed by the local body. They will cover hospitals, schools, and all the important government offices in the panchayat such as the National Institute of Technology-Calicut, Government Arts and Science College, Chooloor, and MVR Cancer Centre and Research Institute.
