The public transport system run by private operators in the six city corporation areas in the state is perhaps the most dangerously run system, with speeding and recklessness of the bus drivers causing thousands of accidents every year.
Thanks to copious funding from JnNURM, all the cities that are governed by the city corporations, irrespective of their population, will get funding for urban re-construction. A major chunk of them will go towards improving urban transport system.
“The state was to get `2,216 crore for JnNURM projects in 2013-14, but earlier, the funding went towards cities with a population of 10 lakh and above only. This condition has been removed,” said Vinay Kumar Sorake, urban development minister.
In addition, the Mangalore unit of the KSRTC was getting ready to launch city bus services on 52 routes in Mangalore on a priority basis. The same model will be followed in Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga, Bellary, Belgaum, Shimoga, Tumkur and Davangere—cities which are on the list of being elevated to city corporations.
According to officials in the transport ministry, the government is keen on forming transport subsidiaries on the lines of BMTC in those cities.
The competition has been intense between private operators. They have taken advantage of the amendment to the public transport act, according to which every person who desires to plunge into the public transport business gets a permit.
The permit holder and bus owner leases the vehicle to a few drivers and conductors on the conditions of paying him back on a daily basis, which includes his bank payment, wear and tear and his individual profit.
“The conductor throws tickets at our faces, abuses us if we are not in a position to alight or disembark the bus quickly. Common people do not get their share of dignified ride on these buses. We want KSRTC buses to serve us,” says Sunil Kumar, a trade union leader.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties’ Mangalore chapter president PB D’Sa asks: “Why does the Regional Transport Authority act in a way favourable to the single bus owners? Why do the traffic police not penalise them for speeding and rash driving? Human rights are being pulverised every day by the goons that run the public transport in Mangalore,” he added.
