Report: Sanjay Borkar
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (SP)

Panaji, Jul 15: Goan students are facing harships in commuting in the private passenger buses of the state, as conductors and drivers of these buses refuse them entry into their vehicles. The reason for the aversion these bus employees have towards the students is that the students are eligible to buy half tickets. The government authorities have been turning a blind eye to this problem.

After another incident of this kind happened on Tuesday July 14 evening at Panaji KTC bus stand, in which four students were refused entry into a Ponda-bound bus, the aggrieved students rushed to the RTO office and narrated the incident to them. The RTO officers then reached the spot to ascertain the problem. However, once there, instead of taking action against the bus driver or conductor, they tried to persuade the students, to understand the problems of the bus owners in running their buses, as the diesel prices and other maintenance costs have gone up. The officers also suggested to them, to file a written complaint and said, they would look into the issue only after receiving the written complaint.

A number of people gathered around the scene and alleged that the RTO officials and the traffic police were hand-in-glove with the bus owners. Some of them charged the policemen and the RTO officials of not being interested in taking action against the erring bus conductors and drivers for this reason.  

Irate students also demanded that the RTO should come up with clear directives as to how many students can board the buses at a time and what should be done if they are disallowed from boarding the buses.

According to the students, they are not allowed to board the buses in the morning and evening, when the number of people going for work returning from work is more.

When contacted, transport minister Sudin Dhavalikar advised the students to complaint to the RTO whenever such things happen. He assured, that action would be taken against bus employees found guilty of refusing entry of students into their vehicles.

Dhavalikar admitted that private bus conductors misbehave and use intimidatory tactics with the people. He however, chose to be silent on the aspect of why the government, which knows the ground reality, has failed to act upon to address the situation.

According to sources in the transport department, the government had planned to come up with a unique system of issuing bus passes to students, but bus owners were reluctant to adopt the system, as a result of which, the system failed to take off.

The government had imposed some conditions to the private bus operators at the time of last ticket fare hike in the state. Two committees were formed to check infringers. But everything was shelved after the fare was hiked.