RTO crackdown strands pilgrims in Mumbai

Seventy-year-old Dashrath Pandey, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, is inconsolable. His voice is pitched too high for a person of his age.

But, in spite of the voice breaking every now and then, he continues to talk angrily. “For the past two days, we have been dumped in this squalor. Why are we being treated in such a way?

We are just Tirth yatris visiting shrines, not criminals!” he thunders.
Pandey is just one among several others - at least 250 by one count - travellers who have been stranded at the Kurla State Transport (ST) bus depot ever since the six buses in which they were travelling, were detained by a special squad of Regional Transport Officials (RTOs) in the early hours of Wednesday for being older than eight years. RTO officials who spoke to DNA said it was a part of the ongoing campaign against older buses which enter the state. An order by the Bombay high court states that buses older than eight years should not be allowed to enter the city, the officials said.

In their enthusiasm to uphold the norms, however, the RTO officials seems to have ignored the avoidable suffering that the travellers, most of them senior citizens from UP who do not know the city, have had to endure for the past two days.

When DNA spoke to state transport commissioner about the issue, he said, “We have only detained the buses. The people are free to go. I have informed my officials that the passengers should not be inconvenienced in any way and their lodging and boarding arrangements should be facilitated.”

On the ground, though, it’s a different picture. Passengers told DNA that the officials had asked them to pay up Rs10, 000 per bus to a lawyer, who will secure the release order from the High Court. Until then, Pandey and other senior citizens will continue to suffer.