Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Mar 18: Police personnel attached to the city traffic division, who got information that bus staff were reluctant to carry a woman passenger till the last stop of the bus, not only made the bus to be driven till the last stop with police escort, but also levied fine on the errant driver. This incident happened on the night of Thursday March 16.

The bus in question, named 'Achal' moves on No 15 route between Mangaladevi and Katipalla. A woman, who was bound for Mangaladevi, had bought a ticket for her travel till the last stop of the bus at Suratkal. At around 8.45 pm on Thursday, the bus reached Kankanady. The said woman was the lone passenger left in the bus then. The bus staff told the woman that the bus would not go any further and asked her to alight.

The woman stood her ground demanding to be dropped at Mangaladevi as she had bought her ticket for the entire journey. The driver and conductor of the bus said they were unable to take her further from Kankanady. This came to the notice of the sub-inspector of the city (east) traffic station, R K Gawar. He immediately went to Kankanady bus stand with staff and asked the bus staff to run the bus till its destination. Gawar said that the bus staff were not prepared to take the lady to Mangaladevi. "After we warned of action, they started from Kankanady. We followed the bus as escort. The bus returned to Kankanady after dropping the passenger at Mangaladevi. We warned the driver against committing such mistakes in future, before imposing a fine of Rs 300," he stated.

City police commissioner, M Chandra Sekhar, deputy commissioner of police, Dr Sanjeev M Patil and assistant commissioner of police, Tilak Chandra praised the traffic police for this initiative. The people have also praised the police for this passenger-friendly gesture through posts made on social websites including Facebook and WhatsApp.