Pics: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jun 8: Deputy commissioner of police (traffic and crime), Laxmi Ganesh, promised to form a separate police team next week to keep tab on city buses moving about in the city. He said that this crackdown has been planned as repeated complaints are being received on the issues of faulty operation of city buses through phone-in programme, complaints from the general public and on social network.

He was addressing a meeting of police officials and city bus owners held after the phone-in programme held at the office of the city police commissioner on Friday, June 7.

He said that majority of complaints happen to be about non-issuance of tickets to passengers, not parking buses in bus bays, reckless and haphazard driving, travel by passengers on footboards, not giving up seats meant for senior citizens and women, indecent behaviour of bus staff with passengers etc. He said that such complaints have been received by his department repeatedly. He told the bus owners that bus service is a public service system and it is the duty of bus owners to provide services in tune with the requirements.

Owner of Dakshina Kannada Bus Owners Association, Dilraj Alva, speaking on the occasion, said that the complaints mentioned have already been brought to the notice of the bus owners during a meeting of the association in the past. He said that all the bus owners would again be informed about non-issuance of tickets and other points raised in the current meeting.

He said that in case of some buses repeated incidents about violation of road rules have been intimated to bus owners. He claimed that during verification, it was found that in some routes where the violations reportedly took place, the buses mentioned were not moving about. The deputy commissioner of police said that the concerned can get such issues sorted out by taking the same with assistant superintendent of police, Manjunath. Assistant commissioner of police, Manjunath Shetty, was present.

At the phone-in programme held earlier, deputy commissioner of police, Hanumantharaya, asked people to click photographs of sale of beedi, cigarette and tobacco within 100 yards from schools and colleges and send them to the Whatsapp number of police department (9480802300). Responding to the complaint about auto rickshaw drivers collecting excessive fares from passengers at Deralakatte, he asked the police officials to conduct a meeting of auto drivers and arrange to display boards about fare in auto rickshaw parks there. On the issue of street vendors occupying the roads around the central market, he said that the police role in this case is limited to providing protection for eviction operations, and that eviction has to be executed by the city corporation. He promised to take up the issue with the corporation.