DC directs to slash bus fare

Transport department public contact meeting

Vartha Bharati | 24-07-2018 | 21:28:00 IST

Mangaluru, July 24: Taking exception to the unilateral decision of the Dakshina Kannada District Bus Owners Association to increase the bus fare without taking permission from the District Transport Authority, Deputy Commissioner and Authority Chairman Sasikanth Senthil directed the association to slash the bus fare increased by it.

Responding to the public grievances at a public contact meeting held at the Transport Department here on Tuesday, Transport department deputy commissioner (incharge) John Miskith said that the Bus Owners Association had increased the bus fare without getting the permission from the District Transport Authority and listening to the public opinion and gave an advertisement in the newspapers in last April. They were collecting more fare from the passengers. As he has received public complaint against this practice, it was brought to the notice of the Authority Chairman. Following this, the Chairman had served a notice to the Association. Against this, the association had appealed to the State Transport Authority which sought clarification from the district authority. In view of this, the district Authority has cancelled the decision taken by the association unilaterally and instructed the association that fare hike or decrease should be discussed in the Authority meeting and decided. The association was also asked to respond to the notice within three days. If the order was not honoured, the Authority would take action against the Association, he said. .

Some of the participants Jerald Towers Kadri, Dinesh Shetty, Naizil Albukark and others raised the issue of harsh horn and tickets were also not issuing. If asked, the bus operators give reasons. Some time, they miss the regular routes and run the buses, they said demanding action.

But Misquith assured of taking action if particular route and bus names were given.

Some buses which come from other places were given permission till Kottara and Infosys and it should be extended to Kottara Chowki. If the buses stopped at Kottara- Infosys, it would cause inconvenience to the passengers, said Chandramohan.

Cancel seats reserved for women

Social worker BS Hasanabba said that the authority should cancel reservation of seats for women in buses, because, even if the seats were vacant, women occupy the seats of men. Moreover, the women who sat on the seats reserved for senior citizens would respond indifferently when they were asked to shift to their seats. Bus conductors should insist the women to sit in their reserved seats. If not, the reservation of seats for women passengers should be cancelled, he demanded.

Kannada board demanded

Majority of the vehicles including buses have been using English boards. So, the owners of the vehicles should be directed to write in Kannada, said GK Bhat.

John Misquith said that such problems were there because of shortage of sufficient staff in the department. The department was trying to solve majority of the problems, he said.

Appreciating his work, Bhat said that after taking over the charge, he was working for the people. But previous officials were behaving like the agents of the private bus owners. You were against to such culture. So, take stringent action against the bus staff which violate norms, he demanded.

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Three devotees sustain injuries as thousands throng to Deviramma temple in Chikkamagaluru

01-11-2024 ¦ 01-11-2024 IST

Chikkamagaluru (Karnataka), Nov 1: Three people sustained minor injuries as they fell down due to the slippery route because of rain when they were on the way to Deviramma hill temple here, a police officer said on Friday.

All three of them sustained minor injuries and were discharged after first aid, Vikram Amathe, Superintendent of Police (Chikkamagaluru) told PTI.

According to him, a large number of people climbed up the hill shrine to have darshan of the Goddess.

"Because of rain, the route has become slippery. Only three people were injured as they slipped while climbing," Amathe said.

The injured were immediately shifted via ambulance and given necessary first-aid, he said.

Also, two women had fallen unconscious because of fasting on October 30, he clarified.

According to him, the 24-hour darshan started on October 30 and went on till early morning of October 31.