Bengaluru, 30 Oct

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) inducted 20 luxury buses -- Airavat Club Class 2.0 model -- each worth Rs 1.78 crore, to its fleet on Wednesday, officials said.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah flagged off the new buses along with Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy. He also took a ride with the Minister in one of those buses.

According to KSRTC, Siddaramaiah presented 'Sarige Suraksha' accident relief compensation cheque of Rs one crore each to two deceased employee’s (Nagaraju MN, Conductor, Ramanagara Division and Shivanna, Driver-cum-Conductor, Mysuru City Division) dependents.

So far, dependents of 22 deceased employees have been paid with accident compensation of Rs 22 crore. Dependents of five employees, who died due to ailments other than accidents, were also paid family welfare compensation of Rs 10 Lakh each on the occasion.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said KSRTC is the first corporation in the country to introduce these types of innovative schemes and, under the guidance of the Transport Minister, it is bringing laurels to the Government and all its employees are appreciative of this effort.

The new buses have a 3.5 per cent increase in overall bus length, providing more space between passenger seats, officials said. -PTI