A bus conductor issued a ticket to a girl student only after collecting the fare from her in Chittapur on Monday, claiming the reason was that she produced a xerox copy of her Aadhar card. This led to an argument between the passengers and the conductor, who demanded to see an original copy of her Aadhaar to issue her a free-of-charge ticket.
Mahalaxmi Muniyappa, an eighth-standard girl student traveled to Chittapur from her native village of Dandoti without paying the bus fare under the newly launched Shakti scheme. However, the government bus conductor refused to accept the xerox copy of her Aadhaar card while she was returning to her village, after attending classes at Nagavi High School in the town. Fellow passengers raised objections against the bus conductor and questioned the dual rules for the single public transport organisation.
Around 10 women who boarded a bus running from Bilagi (Bagalkot) to Hyderabad at Kavital, to travel to Raichur, were involved in a verbal duel with the conductor when the conductor asked them to pay the travel fare. The conductor told them that it was an inter-state bus and that free travel was not covered under the Shakti scheme. But the women insisted that they be allowed to travel to Raichur for free. Eventually, some women paid the fare while others got down, cursing the government.
Published 13 June 2023, 09:15 IST