Hubs facility is ready, but not the Minister

KOCHI: Two months after its construction, the facility meant to host the    KSRTC office and the Road Safety Cell of the Motor Vehicles Department at  Vyttila Mobility Hub remains unoccupied. The Mobility Hub Society and KSRTC officials state that the inauguration is  being delayed owing to the unavailability of the Transport Minister.The facility is 470-sq feet and ready to be occupied anytime.  “The facility was supposed to be inaugurated by Transport Minister V S Sivakumar on December 9. It was postponed to December 17 as the minister was busy with the Mullaperiyar issue. Later, the function was cancelled as the   minister was unavailable,” said an official with the KSRTC.  He added that the Mobility Hub Society officials had said that they would  arrange for the inauguration as soon as the minister was available. However, the hub officials passed the buck stating that the KSRTC was  reluctant to occupy the facility before inauguration. “The KSRTC officials feel that the facility should be occupied only after its official inauguration. We had asked them to start functioning at the office cabin when the inauguration got delayed,” said M Beena, Managing director, Vyttila Mobility Hub Society. Currently, the KSRTC staff at the hub, consisting of a controlling inspector and two  station masters, work at a make-shift counter in front of the cabin. The facility was designed to accommodate a KSRTC enquiry counter, an office cabin for the KSRTC controlling inspector and station master and an office for a motor vehicle inspector.Officials with the Motor Vehicle Department said that the Road Safety Cell of the department at the Vyttilla Mobility Hub would act as a monitoring cell of the vehicles at the Mobility hub."The office will function to ensure that all the rules pertaining to the buses are adhered to. A Motor  Vehicle inspector will be posted at the place. He will be reporting to the regional Motor Vehicles Department. This facility will help to keep an updated record of the vehicles using the Mobility Hub," said T J Thomas, Regional Transport Officer, Kochi.