Bugs leave Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) scratching for answers

Poor upkeep of buses landed the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in an embarrassing row recently.

Officials of the state transport corporation cut a sorry face when a passenger travelling in a ‘Raja Hamsa’ bus confronted officials after having a harrowing time due to bed bug bites in the bus.

But instead of taking his complaint seriously, authorities refused to believe the passenger’s version of events.

Yashaswi, a techie residing in the city, boarded the Rajahamsa bus, bearing registration number KA-17 F-2616, to travel to Davanagere.

But his joy ended soon, as he was bitten by bed bugs. His ordeal was compounded as he had he had already paid for the ticket.

“When I questioned the conductor about the bugs, he was helpless. When I called depot manager Shivalingaiah over the phone, he rudely asked me to move to another seat and adjust. He ruled out refunding the money,” Yashaswi said speaking to DNA.

Yashaswi got down from the bus on the outskirts of Bangalore, near Yeshwantpur.

Angered by the attitude, he complained to the office of the divisional transport officer. But he was in for a shock.

“The KSRTC authorities were not even ready to accept that it was the bugs which made me deboard. They maintained that they would call conductor and driver for an inquiry. But officers did not question the person responsible for fumigating the bus,” he explained.

After a heating exchange, and due to the techie’s threat to take the issue to higher-ups, the KSRTC offered to refund the ticket amount, with a condition that the techie should withdraw the complaint.

Yashaswi refused the offer and warned that he would approach the consumer court if they fail to act. The officials then decided to accept the complaint and look into the issue.

Yashaswi said KSRTC officials did not know the protocol for handling complaints regarding bug menace. “This attitude of treating complaints as an affront should change”, he said.

‘Private hand in public bus’
According to KSRTC’s maintenance guidelines, fumigation of buses has to be done once in 15 days; and depot manager have been made responsible for this.

However, when DNA raised the issue with the KSRTC, officials offered bizarre reasons. “Private bus operators are infesting KSRTC buses with bugs to tarnish the KSRTC’s image and lure the passengers to their buses,” said an officer.

Sources in KSRTC said that many people had stopped boarding Rajahamsa buses as they are plagued with the bug menace.

How to get refund
Depot manager Shivalingaiah said that any traveller affected by bug problem can get the ticket money refunded.

The procedure is to get a report from the conductor concerned, in which he certifies that the complainant had travelled in the bus. Then the report has to be submitted at zonal offices where they can get refund.

However, Yashaswi explained that though he got the report, he did not get the refund.

@ashimysore