The Hindu

Udupi, Nov 29: The Udupi district unit of the Janata Dal (Secular) has demanded that KSRTC buses be run on private bus routes in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

In a press release issued here, president of the party’s district unit Deviprasad Shetty said the State Government was acting according to the diktat of the private bus owners’ lobby in the districts of Udupi and Dakshina. Action was not being initiated on the introduction of Government buses in the region, he said in the release.

Demand

Immediately after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the Government, Transport Minister R. Ashok had stated that KSRTC buses would be introduced on the Mangalore-Udupi and Udupi-Manipal-Karkala routes. But nothing had happened so far in this regard. It was time Mr. Ashok took action and took steps to introduce KSRTC buses on these routes immediately, he said.

The Regional Transport Authority conducted the meetings without discussing the reduction of tariff by private operators. It had confined itself to taking orders from the Transport Ministry on this matter. Private bus owners were least bothered about the plight of passengers.

The only solution to these problems was to introduce KSRTC buses on all routes, the release said.