Karnataka and Kerala to sort out inter-state bus row

New Delhi, Aug 6 (UNI) The Transport Ministers of Karnataka and Kerala have agreed in principle to take steps to remove minor irritation that has been causing embarassment to the inter-state bus transport between the two State Transport Corporations.

A decision to this effect was taken on the sidelines of the meeting of State Transport Ministers convened by the Surface Transport Ministry.

The ministers of the two states today went into matter and found that Karnataka buses were plying 330 km more than the prescribed 13,700 km between the two states. However, this used to create problems at the ground level leading to embarassment with the authorities on both sides.

"We are going to resolve the issue through official discussions", Mr R Ashok, Karnataka Minister for Transport told newspersons.

He said during the meeting he had said about the state government's decision to issue smart cards to driving licence holders in an effort to streamline the system. Each card will contain basic details on the card holder, his photograph, address, thumb impression, date of birth, height, weight and such details and the preparation of each card would cost around Rs 70.

The minister also told the meeting about the state government's intention to start four driving training centres in all four divisions of the state -- Bangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga and Belgaum.

The centres build on 25 acres of land and will help impart training to all classes of vehicles.

On the question of adopting of speed governors, he said Karnataka was of the feeling that the Centre should take a decision in the interest of implementation by all states uniformaly.

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