Daijiworld Media Network—Udupi (SM)
Udupi, Jun 20: A new and regular private bus service began plying from Udupi to Manipal DC office, Rajatadri, recently.
Though the DC office in Rajatadri was inaugurated in December 2011, till now, there was no continuous bus facility provided to the public. In the beginning, a bus was running at 9.47 am from the city to Manipal (Lulu) but maintenance was difficult and gradually it stopped providing service.
S R Nayak of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), Karnataka, on Monday June 11, 2012, discussed the problems faced by the public due to the government’s negligence and then the issue was brought to the light by the media persons that no bus facility was as yet available to Rajatadri and the auto rickshaw fare is very costly for a common man.
The employees were also finding it difficult to travel on a daily basis except for those who have their own vehicles.
Immediately, necessary action was taken and the very next day, the private bus service was ready for the public. On April 10, 2012, two KSRTC buses got permit to run on the route. The RTO said that any time now, KSRTC service will be started.
At present, a minimum of 16 to 20 trips are provided from Udupi to DC office by buses with registration numbers -KA 25C 1555, KA 20C 2122, KA 14A 360, KA 20A 7890, and KA19C 1739. Though these buses got permission to run from January 2012, the public should be happy that at least now during the rains, private bus authorities are ready to run services. May onwards permission was extended to KA 20C 3444 and KA 02 C450.
All the above services are running on original permit basis. The bus fare from Manipal to Rajathadhri is Rs 5, and Udupi to Rajatadri is Rs 8.