K'taka: KSRTC suspends recruitment, plans to give buses on contract to overcome COVID induced losses
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has decided to suspend all fresh recruitments and is contemplating giving a large number of buses on casual contracts to overcome financial losses, its chairman M Chandrappa said on Friday.
During a review meeting with the KSRTC officials, Chandrappa said there were 8,200 buses operating before the lockdown, which has reduced to 5,100 buses now.
"There are only 10 lakh passengers traveling in our buses daily as against 30 lakh passengers before lockdown," Chandrappa said.
According to Chandrappa, the present situation of the corporation arising out of coronavirus induced lockdown is very critical and may take many months or years to improve.
Stating that there was an immense need to make some tough decisions, the corporation chairman said the KSRTC was suspending all forms of recruitment until further orders.
"There are plans to give a large number of buses under casual contract," Chandrappa added.
He pointed out that profit was not the motive behind operating the Transport Corporation buses.
"However, the corporation has to take some stringent measures in order to survive. Other than traffic revenue we have to mobilize other forms of revenues too," the KSRTC chairman said.
Chandrappa thanked the state government for coming to the rescue during the crisis by funding the corporation for the salaries of the staff.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
