The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Discrimination, say passengers

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Sunday, Sep 23, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Discrimination, say passengers

Karthik Madhavan

Perundurai travellers sore over treatment

Allotted seats only after passengers to Erode or Coimbatore
Usually forced to stand for the duration of the entire journey

PERUNDURAI: Passengers travelling to this small town from Erode, Coimbatore and Salem have a complaint against the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation.

They say they are asked to occupy seats only after passengers to Erode or Coimbatore occupy the seats in the buses waiting to depart.

In buses that ply to Erode from Coimbatore, Erode passengers are asked to take the seats first and after they do so, whatever remains is offered to Perundurai-bound passengers.

Seat

Quite often, there is not a seat left and every Perundurai-bound passenger is made to suffer by standing for the duration of the entire journey from the point of departure to Perundurai.

In most cases, the travelling time would come up to about one-and-half hours, observes K. R. Venkatachalam, who is the president of the Consumer Welfare Movement, Perundurai.

A few days ago, the Joint Secretary of the Movement, Rajasekar, suffered a similar fate at the hands of the two bus conductors in Coimbatore.

However, the problem did not end there and there was more to the incident.

It led to a wordy duel with a conductor calling Mr. Rajasekar a ‘terrorist’ and refusing to allow the bus to proceed to its destination.

Subsequently, the two buses were blocked in Perundurai.

After an altercation that took place over the attitude of the bus crew, the residents of the town, led by Mr. Rajasekar and Mr. Venkatachalam lodged a complaint with the Perundurai Town Police, giving information about what had taken place.

Joint Secretary of the Movement, Pallavi K. Paramasivam says the problem of Perundurai passengers being given a rough deal has been persisting on buses for a few years now.

He said that the issue had become a problem and had heated up in the last year.

He says it is the same case when it come to allotment of seats for Perundurai-bound passengers who wish to reach their destination by travelling on Coimbatore-Salem bypass rider buses as well.

Allegations

Asked about the allegations that were being made by passengers against conductors, sources in the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, Erode, say they have issued a circular in this connection asking conductors not to discriminate against Perundurai-bound passengers.

The sources added that because of the attitude of one or two conductors, the entire department was getting a bad name.

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