Mangalore: Nationalization of Bus Routes—An Election Stunt?
By Melka Miyar
For Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (MM/CN)
Mangalore, Nov 9: The state government has decided to nationalize all bus routes in the state. This has led many people to question if this move is nothing more than an election stunt. These doubts are not without basis. Whenever the state passes any orders, the district committee or the taluk committees of the BJP immediately issues a press statement, welcoming the decisions by the state.
However, this time there has been no reaction either way from the district BJP or any other subordinate organization. P V Mohan, convener, Social Action Group for Empowerment (SAGE), says that the state government is not interested in nationalizing the bus routes. It is just threatening the bus owners, so as to collect money for the upcoming parliamentary elections. He points out that the district BJP’s silence in the matter indicates this is a strong possibility.
According to sources, about 7,000 private buses ply in the state. Of these, 3,000 are in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. A total of 1,200 entrepreneurs are involved in this business here and the daily turnover is about Rs 1.5 crore every day. Therefore, the decision taken by the state will affect these two districts the most.
There are both positive and negative responses from various organizations, about this proposal. Bus owners are strongly opposed to this decision as they are already burdened with huge loans taken to purchase the buses. They contend that the buses here are providing good service to the passengers.
However, passengers are unhappy with their service. Rash driving, traffic violations, arrogance of bus employees, frequent hikes of bus fares, sudden strikes, have all been a cause of concern to the passengers here. Women and the school children are especially fed up with the abusive words of bus conductors here. Fights between employees are also a common feature in the region. Hence, the locals are awaiting government buses here.
But a section of the society prefers the private buses for their cleanliness, modern approach, and punctuality. Sometimes buses reach earlier than their scheduled times! This puts the people in a quandary as to whether to accept or to reject the decision of the state government.
SAGE is planning to conduct a survey in the coastal area, before reaching a decision on the issue. It plans to do so with the help of varsity students. Passengers covering all sections like women, elders, and school children, will be surveyed. If a majority of passengers accept the nationalization of bus routes, SAGE will fight for it, says Mohan. But employees of private buses cannot be left out and SAGE will fight for regularization of their service also, he says.
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