Thiruvananthapuram, 29 July (H.S.): The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has terminated its partnership with a private courier operator and decided to discontinue bookings under the existing arrangement, citing poor performance and operational shortcomings. The corporation is now preparing to invite fresh tenders to revive the service and has indicated that it may operate the courier network on its own if no suitable private agency comes forward.

The courier service had been outsourced last year to Andhra Pradesh-based Synku Solutions as part of an effort to improve operations and enhance non-ticket revenue. However, the arrangement failed to deliver the expected results.

According to sources, the partnership did not generate the anticipated revenue for KSRTC. The private operator also faced repeated complaints over delays in delivering consignments, affecting the reliability of the service and causing inconvenience to customers who depended on the state-run transport network for parcel delivery.

KSRTC has instructed its staff to stop accepting fresh courier bookings with immediate effect. Only consignments that have already been booked under the existing system will be delivered, after which the current arrangement will formally come to an end.

The corporation is expected to issue a fresh tender shortly in an effort to identify a more efficient operator. If no company expresses interest in running the service, KSRTC is considering operating the courier network independently, as it had done successfully in the past.

The courier service was once regarded as one of KSRTC's most successful non-ticket revenue streams, making effective use of the corporation's extensive statewide bus network to transport parcels quickly and economically. During the tenure of former Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar, the service was handed over to a private company as part of a restructuring initiative.

Meanwhile, employees engaged in the courier operations had reportedly not received their salaries for several months, adding to the operational difficulties that ultimately led the corporation to end the contract and explore alternative models for running the service.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman