Chase of life and death to board KSRTC

KSRTC is one of the major departments of the government that is in constant contact with the people. Therefore, even a small mistake by its employees can lead to a big complaint. The department itself has caught those who drive drunk while on duty. If those who show such negligence are temporary employees, they are temporarily suspended. If they are permanent employees, no major action is taken due to the intervention of the union. Most of the employees interact well with the people, but the behaviour of some brings a lot of bad name to KSRTC. Such an incident happened in Nilambur the other day. A passenger had to follow the bus on a bike and a car for 35 km to board the KSRTC Super Deluxe!

The passenger who was supposed to reach Thiruvananthapuram for a job interview had to race on a bike and then catch a taxi to board the bus. This passenger, who experienced the unfortunate incident on January 18, had reserved a ticket from Nilambur to Thiruvananthapuram! The passenger later filed a complaint stating that the conductor told him over the phone that there was no point in following, even though he arrived right behind the bus, and that he could board if he overtook the bus. At work, one should not only follow the rules but also adopt some humane approaches. None of this can be written down as an official rule. The conductor did not stop the bus on the grounds that there was no rule to stop the bus for those who came after it. The bus had just hit the road when the passenger reached the bus stand on someone else's bike.

The delay in reaching the bus stand was due to traffic jams. The passenger had informed that he would arrive in five minutes, but the conductor had recorded that the passenger had not arrived on time and had the bus start the trip. The decision that the time of other passengers cannot be wasted for just one person is correct, but that is not what happened here. Even though the other passengers pointed out to the conductor that the passenger was running after the bus that had just started its trip, the conductor did not ring the bell. If he had been a humane conductor, he would have stopped the bus. Instead, he stuck to the rules. By the time the passenger got off the bike and caught a taxi, the bus had disappeared from sight. The taxi driver had to follow for more than thirty kilometres to overtake the speeding bus. Fortunately, there was no accident during this high-speed chase.

Although there is a rule that the bus does not have to wait for passengers, the booked bus often arrives at the boarding point half an hour late. There are no answers or explanations for that. However, if the passengers are even a minute late, the rule will be enforced. After the passenger complained, the vigilance squad conducted an investigation and reported that there was a mistake on the part of the conductor. Following this, the KSRTC has banned the conductor who was involved in the incident at the Thiruvananthapuram depot from working on super-class services. This is a 'punishment' that makes the conductor more comfortable. Such incidents are repeated because they only get such 'pleasant' punishments, no matter how rude they are to passengers. A conductor who says passengers can board if they stop the bus is not really qualified to do that job.