Kasargod, Oct 12: Movement of buses on the section of national highway between the town and Talapady stands suspended as a measure of protest against the failure of the concerned to repair the road which is in wretched condition.
Buses have also stopped moving on stretches of the road between Permude and Bandyodu, Bayar and Uppala, as well as Meeyapadavu and Manjeshwar in the district. Because of the bus strike on these roads, students from rural areas as well as daily commuters are facing lot of hardships.
As government buses continue to move on national highway, passengers located on this route have not come across any critical problem so far. But the fact that buses have not been moving around even in rural places has forced students, coolies, and other passengers to go into a tizzy seeking alternative arrangements. Many of these are being forced to pay heavily by hiring private vehicles to reach their destinations. Reports said that private vehicles have been encashing this opportunity by charging the customers arbitrarily and exorbitantly. It is learnt that scores of students had to return to their homes without attending schools as a result.
This strike has been causing undue harassment to people, particularly students, coolies and ordinary passengers stationed in rural belts.
At the same time, the grievances of bus operators is genuine. The stretch of national highway between Kumble and Manjeshwar Hosangady has been completely devastated due to rain. The strike call has been given to protest against the apathy of the officials in not repairing the road.
Bus owners have warned that they will undertake indefinite strike if the road is not repaired immediately. The entire 14-kilometre stretch of the national highway between Kumble and Manjeshwar has gone missing. Finding the actual course of the road on this stretch proves to be a daunting task. Although national highway 66 happens to be the lifeline between Karnataka coast and Kerala, it has been allowed to be destroyed, and no one seems to care, the bus operators rue.
Thousands of people use this road every day from different parts of Kerala. A large number of ambulances carry patients, many of them in critical condition, to hospitals in Mangaluru. Many vehicles also move to Mangaluru airport. Over 300 buses and countless goods vehicles from other states use this road regularly. Still, the road has been allowed to be converted into a long stretch of muddy pot holes, and it looks more like a canal now, because of the negligence of officials of highways department.