School vehicle drivers picket RTO

District admin has ignored our problems, say drivers

School vehicle drivers staged a protest in front of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and picketed the RTO here on Wednesday.

They charged that even though the drivers had submitted a request to the RTO to convene a meeting presided over by the deputy commissioner to discuss about the problems of drivers, three week ago, the RTO has not taken any step on the same.

Addressing the protesters, Dakshina Kannada District School Vehicle Drivers’ Association Honorary president Sunil Kumar Bajal said the filing of cases against school vehicle drivers only in the aftermath of Kundapur incident is not right. Behind every accident there is a different reason, he said.

Even after submitting a memorandum to the elected representatives, the deputy commissioner and the concerned authorities, the district administration have not called a meeting. The district administration is not ready to listen to the problems of the vehicle drivers, he said and warned that district-wide protests will be carried out if the meeting is not convened.

Association Honorary Advisor Umesh Shetty said the school managements too are not bothered about the problems of school vehicle drivers. They have not been following the deputy commissioner’s order, he added. There is a need to form an alternative plan, instead of conducting surprise raids, he opined.

Later, the protestors picketed the RTO and submitted a memorandum to Regional Transport Officer G S Hegde. He said the meeting will be held at the deputy commissioner’s office on July 20. The filing of cases will be stopped till then. The protest was withdrawn later on.

Mohan Attavar, Muhammed Ansar, Praveen Ladyhill, Gangadhar Rai, Chittaranjan, Sathish Poojary, Gangadhar Shettigar, Jayaram, Benjamin Weigas, Lokesh Suratkal, Munna Padavinangadi, Jossi D’Cunha, Rehman Kunjathbail, Hamid Pavula and Kiran Ladyhill were present among others.