Pramod Madhwaraj launches low-floor JNNURM buses

Udupi: Pramod Madhwaraj launches low-floor JNNURM buses

Pics By Prasanna Kodavoor, Team Mangalorean

Udupi: Turning a new leaf in the urban transport system of the district, Pramod Madhwaraj district minister in-charge Udupi flagged off twelve low-floor buses purchased with financial assistance from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission on September 7 at the Beedinagudde ground.

The programme began with the State Anthem; Vivekananda Hegde regional control officer KSRTC Mangaluru Division welcomed the gathering. Pramod Madhwaraj district minister in-charge Udupi inaugurated the programme by lighting the lamp.

In his message Pramod Madhwaraj said that the aim is to provide an efficient urban transport system and to encourage students. In my election manifesto, I had assured of two promises to the students. The first promise is 24 hours electricity in Udupi constituency and it has been already fulfilled. Except for technical problems there is 24 hour power available for the Udupi constituency. The second assurance is JNNURM bus to Udupi City, and it is also fulfilled today.

The low-floor buses will commence service from September 8. In the first phase, 12 buses will commence service from Udupi JNNURM bus stand allotted near Old DDPI Office as demand by the KSRTC and the people of the City. The KSRTC have given brand new buses to Udupi. We have transferred of 2.5 acres of land for the construction of KSRTC Bus stand at Bannanje at a cost of Rs 5 crore. The past three chief ministers B S Yeddyurappa, D V Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar had rejected this project. The present chief minister Siddaramaiah has fulfilled the public demand by approving the project he added.

Each bus is fitted with three high-resolution CCTV cameras. While the front and rear cameras will capture images inside the bus, the third one is at the back and will help the driver reverse the bus. The surveillance will increase the safety of women.

Another safety aspect is that these buses will not move unless the doors are locked. The buses have a panic button for the driver to contact the control room in case of any emergency, as well as a buzzer fitted on a stanchion pole for passengers to request the bus to be stopped,” he said.

LCD destination boards in Kannada and English with the route number, route and destination will come in handy for the locals and tourists. Low platform for hassle-free boarding and alighting, rear engine, automatic gear, electronically adjustable floor depending on the condition of the road, comfortable seating, a facility for lowering on the left side (kneeling), ramp for the physically challenged to enter the bus and facility for securing the wheelchair are some of the features he added.

KSRTC is providing concessional passes to Students, Physical challenged persons, senior citizens and daily passengers in JNNURM buses. The buses were giving free bus pass facility to freedom fighters, accredited journalist, Arujana, Olympian, Para Olympian awardees and others he said.

Meenakshi Madhava Bannaje, Sandhya Kumar, Celina Karkada, Ganesh Negri and others were present.