Students air their travel woes at Children's Adalat

Students from different parts of the City voiced their grievances while travelling by BMTC buses, at ‘Children’s Adalat’ here on Saturday.

The face-to-face interaction between BMTC personnel and children was organised by Bengaluru Bus Prayaanikara Vedike ( BBPV), an organisation of bus commuters and civil society groups, for the first time. A majority of the children pointed to lack of buses and rude behaviour of conductors.

Amruthavarshini, a student from a government school, Yeshwantpur, said that she was reaching home late due to lack of city buses.

Shabreen Taj, a  student of government high school, Kengeri said: "Once when I was travelling in a bus, the conductor slapped me just because I was near the doorstep of bus.The bus was full and there was no way I could enter inside the vehicle.” 

Rajeshwari, a tenth standard student from Government Primary School, MS Palya, said that conductors verbally abuse children travelling by buses.

 Representatives of BMTC ensured that their issues will be looked into. However, the children as well as others present  were not satisfied with the answers given by the authorities. 

The parents, who accompanied their children, complained that the BMTC 24X 7 helpline was of little use as it does not work. “The helpline 18004251663 is existing for namesake. I called the number many times, but does not connect," rued a parent.

Assistant Traffic Manager (Complaint), Shyamala, however, claimed that they had been receiving hundreds of complains from commuters everyday.