Action will be taken against Old Buses – DC Jagadeesha
Mangaluru: An RTA meeting was held at the Deputy commissioner’s office here on September 21. The owners of the private buses shared their grievances and urged the DC to stop issuing permits to the KSRTC buses operating up to the statebank. The bus owners said that they do not want the KSRTC to get permits to operate up to State Bank because there are already a number of private buses which operate from State bank.
Later addressing the meeting Dr Jagadeesha said, “Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), 35 KSRTC buses have been sanctioned but the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has granted permits for 18 buses. The representatives of the Bus owners have brought a stay from the High court, not to give permits to the remaining buses so I cannot take the decision now. I will discuss the issue with the legal experts and take action”.
DC Dr Jagadeesha also said, “This is my first meeting, I do not know the exact problems so I cannot comment. I have understood only a few problems. The bus owners spoke about the 18 KSRTC buses which I will discuss with the legal experts. We will review all the problems and take a decision in the interest of the public. You are born and brought up in this area and you know all the areas very well but I am very new to this district. The private buses which are plying in the city are not people friendly which create traffic congestion. There are a number of complaints from the public about the private buses. If the private bus owners do attend to their shortcoming, we will take legal action to cancel such buses from plying in the city.
Dr Jagadeesha also said that the private bus owners should make their buses people friendly, If not legal action will be taken. If there are any requirements or problems, give them in writing to the RTO and take an acknowledgment. The next meeting will be called after 2 months. Whoever has submitted their complaints, they will be given an opportunity to discuss the issues at the next meeting.
Private Bus owners should not think of their own benefit but they should think of the people residing in the rural areas. The interest you show in running the buses in the city, is not shown towards running the buses in the rural areas. The RTO should make a system for the bus owners to compulsorily run buses in the rural areas. The Public ask for buses to be made available on some routes. Whatever the public demand, you should understand their problems and show interest to give service to the people of rural areas.
The bus owners need to organize programmes for training Bus conductors and drivers to do their job better. In the city, there is congestion and the major complaint is that the old buses are not passengers friendly. In the coming days if there are complaints from the public we will scrap the old buses.
SP Bhushan Borase, RTO G S Hegde and Anwar Pasha were also present.