Bus Driver Booked for Overloading Students following Tweet to Police Commissioner
Mangaluru : Years ago it was common to see students and other passengers hanging on the footpath of the buses, but after constant crack down by the police and slapping the bus driver/conductor with hefty fines, such overloading had stopped-until this Sunday, 28 July when the Moodbidri police registered a case against the driver and owner of a private bus on the Moodbidri-Mangaluru route for alleged overloading of passengers, who happened to be college students.
https://twitter.com/SoorajJainM2/status/1155038741146157056
The action followed a tweet from a resident of Moodbidri Sooraj Jain to Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil seeking action against the bus. The resident had sent Police Commissioner Patil the picture of the bus that showed a couple of students on the ladder at the rear end of the bus. The picture also showed some students hanging from the foot-board. He said the picture was captured near the Vidyagiri bus stop in Moodbidri.
Immediately Patil forwarded the message to the Moodbidri police, who registered the case against the driver and the owner. Patil had aslo replied to the complainant that a letter had been written to the Road Transport Officer for cancellation of the driving license and permit. While appreciating the prompt action by police, the complainant in his reply to Patil’s tweet asked the latter to reconsider the action to cancel the driving licence and leave him with a warning. There were tweets by few others pleading the same pointing out that a cancellation of driving license would hit the driver hard.
The action of police was in continuation of the drive against overloading of students in city buses and school vans. Expressing displeasure over the lack of seriousness in acting against overloaded school vans, the High Court of Karnataka on June 17 directed the State police to launch a drive against overloaded school vehicles and had sought stringent action against offenders. But after a big protest by the auto-rickshaw drivers and other drivers of school vans and other vehicles, the police have taken it easy on cracking down on overloading vehicles.
