Students blame driver; staff vouch for his efficiency

Students of JSS Academy of Technical Education injured in the accident involving the college bus here on Thursday alleged that the driver, Ramesh, “often indulged in rash driving” and that they had complained to the college authorities in that regard.

The parents of Sushritha Surya P S, a fifth-semester civil branch student, said: “Our daughter and a few others had lodged a complaint with the college authorities about the rash driving, but they did not act. It was the second time that the college bus met with an accident.” The driver was known for violating traffic rules and was not punctual, they added.

The staff members, however, said Ramesh, who had joined the college one-and-a-half-years ago, was one of the most efficient drivers. There are five buses on the campus.

He never indulged in rash or negligent driving. There was some problem with the driver of route Number 1, which was sorted out some time ago, they added.

The principal of JSS, Mrityunjaya Latte, said he was unaware of the students’ complaint. He, would, however, check with the authorities concerned. The college would bear all the medical expenses of the injured students, he added.

Earlier, help was quick in coming for the injured students and faculty members as local residents and the college authorities rushed to their rescue and alerted the hospital.

“As many as 34 patients, including two staff members, were brought to the emergency department. They were rushed to the hospital’s Level-1 trauma care centre where a team of surgeons, anaesthetists, intensivists, emergency physicians and paramedical staff attended to them,” said Dr N K Venkataramana, Vice-Chairman and Chief  Neurosurgeon, BGS Global Hospitals.

They were all triaged and initial assessment was done and treatment provided based on the nature of injuries. None of them had life threatening injuries, majority had superficial injuries, he added.

Eleven of them required investigations as they mainly had ortho and neuro injuries and required scans were performed. Three were admitted, one for thoracic spine injury, another for elbow degloving injury and the third one for abdominal injury. Rest were discharged after providing first aid and treatment, he said.

The bus originated from Vidyaranyapura, its first pick up point, at 6:50 am, picked up students and faculties from Malleswaram, Vijayanagar, Nagarabavi, Mysore Road and was to reach the college that functions between 9:00 am and 4:45 pm. There were around 40 people, including six lecturers--Anitha, Deepa, Geetha, Sharan, Siddaroodha and Latha.

Rashmi, Sahana, Akhila, Ashwini, Pooja, Roopa, Rafiq, Nirupama, Varun, Sushant, Latha, Kushala,  Sijira, Anitha, Geetha, Usha, Sugalka, Triveni, Shwetha, Vaibhavi, Chandana, Shreyas, Shashwathi, Padmashri, Vikas, Nikhil, Praveen, Sushritha Surya, Sriram, Meghana, and Lavanya are students.

The place where the accident occurred is one of the most congested one with a lot of vehicular movement. Potholes of the road were filled up just a week ago. The police booked Ramesh under section 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC and seized the bus.