Pandemic delaying payment of KSRTC accident relief dues

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation paid, during 2021-22, Rs 45.29 crore in accident compensation.

The individual amounts were decided by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT). The corporation has a target time-frame of three months to settle accident compensation claims involving death or injury. But with the pandemic slowing the KSRTC down, the settlement procedures now take at least a year, according to V Anbukumar, managing director.

Battling substantial losses, KSRTC is looking for support from the state government to offset post-pandemic delays in disbursal of relief, he told DH. He said the losses incurred due to the rise in diesel prices continued to hit the KSRTC hard.

“We have had interactions with the government (regarding a relief package). That appears to be the only way out without a fare revision,” he told DH.

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The corporation reported losses amounting to Rs 581.15 crore in 2021-22. It has an additional Rs 1,200 crore due toward employees’ PF and payment of fuel and other expenses.

“We have requested financial assistance from the government to create a corpus fund of Rs 271 crore (combined for the state’s four road transport corporations) to settle pending MACT claims,” a KSRTC source said.

Earlier this month, a government-appointed committee said in a report that the four RTCs – KSRTC, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation – required a phased revival package of about Rs 10,000 crore.

The report, submitted by retired IAS officer M R Sreenivasa Murthy, estimated the RTCs’ combined accumulated losses at about Rs 4,600 crore.

Apart from the MACT-awarded compensation, KSRTC releases aid through its Accident Relief Fund (ARF) Trust. The trust pays Rs 3 lakh each to legal heirs of deceased passengers and meets medical expenses of the injured.

During 2021-22, ARF awarded Rs 45 lakh as compensation to heirs of the deceased and paid about Rs 45 lakh to cover medical treatment.

In May this year, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court held that “loss of future prospects” needed to be considered in compensating injuries without amputation that result in disability.