Udupi, Aug 2 (The Hindu): There was a barrage of complaints against the rude behaviour of conductors and cleaners of private buses at an interaction programme with Regional Transport Officer H.N. Ramesh here on Saturday. It was organised by the District Consumer Information Centre and the Udupi Consumers’ Forum.

President of the Senior Citizens’ Association Vishwajna Shetty said that many private city buses did not display destination boards on their buses. The designated seats for elderly people were not kept for them. The behaviour of the personnel in private buses left a lot to be desired, he said.

Writer Sharada Bhat said that the footboards of many private buses were at a discomforting height making it difficult for women to board them. Bus conductors were always in a hurry. In a few buses, the batteries were kept below the seats reserved for women. Sometimes these batteries leaked and spoiled the saris of passengers, she said.

S. Angara, an elderly person, urged the RTO not to wait for individual complaints. It should conduct surprise checks on private buses to get an idea of the problems being faced by the passengers, he said.

Convener of the Parkala Consumers Forum R.L. Dias said that many drivers in buses and other vehicles were using cellphones while driving. Several vehicles were overtaking from the left side on the recently widened Udupi-Manipal Road. A few vehicles were using dazzling fog lights at night and blinding other drivers, he said.

Convener of the Udupi Consumers’ Forum K.D. Aithal said that the forum’s attempts at getting autorickshaw fares fixed for over a decade had not yielded any results.

Mr. Ramesh said that he would be holding a meeting with the private bus operators on Tuesday and discuss the problems of the passengers with them. His department was facing a shortage of staff.

It had only four vehicle inspectors against 948 private buses operating in the district. A large number of private buses from Dakshina Kannada were coming into the district daily. If the people travelling in private buses or autorickshaws faced any harassment, they could send their complaints to him by a postcard, mentioning the registration number of the vehicle and other relevant details. Action would be taken against the guilty at the earliest, Mr. Ramesh said.