Mangalore: All buses to display RTO numbers

• Passengers, members of public can call the number in case of rash driving

 

Mangalore, 07 Oct 2012 (Hindu): The Regional Transport Office would display official telephone numbers in all buses by next month to curb the practice of rash driving by bus drivers. People could register their complaints by calling these numbers said C. Mallikarjuna, Regional Transport Officer, Mangalore.

 

 

The officials of the department would verify the complaints and if they were found valid, driving licences of culpable drivers would be cancelled for a week or 10 days, he said at the regional transport adalat here.

 

Mr. Mallikarjuna said people did not have to file written complaints, although, they would have to call the numbers during office hours.

 

Some people at the adalat complained that seats reserved for senior citizens, women, and people with disabilities were being occupied by others and the bus conductors did not bother to intervene in the situation.

 

The former Deputy Mayor Judith Mascarenhas said that people in Kerala did not occupy seats meant for women, senior citizens, and the people with disabilities. The government was strict there. Why couldn’t the Transport Department in Mangalore ensure the same, she asked.

 

In response to Ms. Mascarenhas’s suggestion, Mr. Mallikarjuna said the officials would look into the matter. He asked bus owners to sensitise their conductors.

 

Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti president G. Hanumantha Kamath wanted to know on what basis the Transport Department continued to allow private buses to operate on route number 15 via Lalbagh. A notification issued in 1992-93 by the then Deputy Commissioner had disallowed passage of buses via Lalbagh, he said. He said that Mangalore Division of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) had approached the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Mangalore, seeking permit to operate its city buses from Mangaladevi to Kunjathbail via Ambedkar Circle, Bunts Hostel, Lalbagh, and Kuloor. It had sought permit to operate buses from Mangaladevi to Bondel via Lalbagh, Kuloor, and Kavoor. The KSRTC had sought permits on December 16, 2009. But the Transport Department had not issued the permits. When the Transport Department could issue permits to private buses by violating the old notification why not to KSRTC, he said.

 

Mr. Mallikarjuna said the RTA would have to take a decision on the grant of permits.

 

John Rodrigues alleged that buses plying on route number 4 B did not operate via ESI hospital in Shivbagh. They violated permit conditions and did not complete the number of trips mentioned in permit conditions. He suggested keeping an entry register at a shop near the hospital, in which bus conductors would have to enter the time and date each time they operated on the route.

 

The Regional Transport Officer assured Mr. Rodrigues that the authorities concerned would look into the complaint. A former member of Someshwar gram panchayat Ismail said KSRTC should operate a bus from Someshwar to Ullal as private buses plying on route number 43 did not operate via Ullal as per permit conditions. Mr. Mallikarjuna said the issue would be considered.