Land identified for depot of KSRTC e-buses at Balepuni
At the Transport Adalat held at the RTO office on Monday, an official from the KSRTC Mangaluru division mentioned that a final decision has not yet been taken.
The KSRTC Mangaluru division has three depots in Mangaluru city, with a depot at Kuntikana housing 135 buses. The existing facilities will not be sufficient to accommodate an additional 100 electric buses, which will arrive soon. Land has been identified for a dedicated e-bus depot, and a proposal in this regard has been sent to the govt for approval.
The work will begin once the process is completed, the official said.
Participants at the Adalat raised several grievances about public transportation. Mohammed Ismail, vice-president of Dakshina Kannada District Muslim League, said that passengers of city buses from Deralakatte are made to get down at Pumpwell Junction despite availing tickets to the State Bank bus stand. Conductors force commuters to travel in another bus and cut short the trip.
This causes a lot of inconvenience for commuters, especially senior citizens, he said.
In response to a complaint raised by activist Hanumanth Kamath on the lack of bus connectivity to the Praja Soudha, new DC Office in Padil, RTO Shridhar K Mallad said that an appropriate decision will be taken at the RTA meeting to be held on Aug 18. There are plans to extend bus services to Padil from various destinations. New permits will also be issued to KSRTC and private bus operators to introduce buses to Padil from various destinations, he said.
Issue tickets or face music, says RTO.
The RTO directed private bus conductors to issue tickets to all passengers. After the issue was brought to notice at the meeting, the RTO said that he had already started a drive-by travelling in private buses and imposing penalties. "At least twice a week, I travel in a private bus to check whether conductors issue tickets to passengers. Penalties have been imposed on many conductors who failed to issue tickets," he said, adding that the drive will continue.
Dakshina Kannada Taximen and Maxicab Association president Dinesh Kumpala M said that though six bus permits were issued on the Mangaluru - Kumpala route, only two buses are operating on the route. Meanwhile, one KSRTC bus on the route is also not operating regularly, he said. When participants at the meeting also raised similar complaints, the RTO said that the permits will be cancelled if private bus operators fail to operate buses on prescribed routes.
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