JOIN USHundreds of students staged a protest in front of the KSRTC depot after a bus rammed a student, seriously injuring him on Monday.
Venkataramanachari, a student of an ITI College in Kolar Gold Fields was entering the KSRTC bus stand when a bus rammed him. He sustained grievous injuries on his both legs. The driver and conductor of the vehicle, however fled the spot.
Irked over the incident, students who were headed to college resorted to a snap stir. Tension ran high as students sat on a dharna in front of the office of the divisional controller of KSRTC.
The students alleged that the accident occurred due to negligence on the part of the driver. They said the driver rammed the vehicle to the student in his effort to take over another vehicle. They demanded that the erring driver be punished and the injured be paid ex gratia. The protesters refused to budge from the spot unless divisional controller met them.
Vehicular movement was affected as students staged the protest in front of the bus stand. Repeated appeals by the police to pacify the protesters went in vain. Depot manager Nagaraj made a vain bid to convince the students.
The students alleged the drivers act negligently and a similar accident was prevented on Sunday.
As traffic went haywire, police succeeded in convincing the students to convey their grievance to the authorities concerned. The police told the students that protest at the bus stand would inconvenience the passengers.
Later, student leaders went to various colleges in the City informing the students of the incident. Students of various colleges gathered in front of the divisional controller’s office raising slogans. Their patience ran out as the officer did not turn up at the spot.
Students were irked the officer was not available despite their best efforts. They said officials should shun the tendency of shunning their responsibility, and demanded KSRTC pay the medical expenses to the injured student.
With there being no respite in the situation, police sensed trouble and deployed more forces. Divisional Controller M Ramesh who turned up at last said the Corporation would pay Rs 5,000 towards medical expenses.
The students were not satisfied and continued to raise slogans. The officer later said a sum of Rs 25,000 would be paid for the present and action would be initiated against the errant driver. The situation came to control following the assurance.
Later, speaking to Deccan Herald, Ramesh said he was not aware of the gravity of the situation. He said the injured student has been admitted to R L Jalappa Hospital and that he was out of danger.
Meanwhile, members of Raitha Sangha and Students Federation of India blamed ‘poor management’ on the part of the KSRTC for such accidents.
Student leaders H Nagaraj, K Srinivas Gowda, Prajwal, Syed, D M Narasimhamurthy spoke on the occasion.