A 'funeral' of burnt buses to dissuade rampaging mobs

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Tuesday took out a “mock funeral” of its buses that were burnt during the garment workers’ protest in April.

This was part of the KSRTC’s two-day campaign ‘It’s My Bus’ to create awareness among people not to vandalise public property during protests. The burnt buses were displayed at Majestic and other major bus stations.

After inaugurating the campaign at the Majestic bus station, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the state-owned buses were becoming vulnerable to vandalism as they are easy targets of mobs.

Vandalising public property is not the solution to the problems. Instead, the public should choose non-violent methods, he said.

Rajender Kumar Kataria, KSRTC Managing Director, said it had become routine for mobs to damage government buses which were purchased from taxpayers’ money.

“We lost Rs 10-15 crore due to damage to the buses. When I visited the Peenya depot soon after the protest, I decided to do something to prevent such damages in the future.”

He said he hoped the initiative would become a talking point and help prevent future damages to public property. Artist Badal Nanjundaswamy painted an undamaged bus as part of the campaign.