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At Koyambedu bus terminus, many government buses collect luggage fares for Gaja relief material
Posted on: 19/Nov/2018 11:22:01 AM
Just few days back the state of Tamil Nadu faced the brunt of cyclone ‘Gaja’ and many districts like Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Thanjavur etc were highly affected. Relief materials were sent in the government buses to these districts. The shocking piece of information now is at the Koyambedu bus terminus in Chennai, many government buses plying towards the districts affected by ‘Gaja’ collected luggage fare for the relief material. One important point is the bus services to the interior places in Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Pudukottai are yet to resume in full swing but the buses connecting Chennai to district headquarters have started plying. Most of these buses were operated by SETC or State Express Transport Corporation in the evenings. Relief materials released by the government have not reached the people in the villages belonging to the cyclone affected areas. Many individuals, private organisations and NGOs have expressed their support is known.
A volunteer expressed his feelings and spoke about how a SETC bus going to Kumbakonam through Mayiladuthurai refused to board boxes filled with milk powder, water bottles and bread for the cyclone affected people without paying the luggage amount. It is known that based on the weight of the box that luggage amount is calculated and it is equal to the one way fare collected for a passenger travelling in the bus. As per Puducherry Road Transport Corporation or PRTC staff, Mr. Ramamoorthy it is clear that the luggage fare was collected by the state government buses plying along the ECR.
When questioned about the collection of fares, a senior official belonging to SETC replied that they had received complaints from many. He then spoke about the instructions that were given to the conductors regarding not to collect fares for the relief materials. The official finally explained that the instruction would be strictly implemented from Monday as the instruction might not have reached the bus crew till Sunday evening. The superb piece of information is private omni bus have opened their doors to the volunteers for free of cost.
Managing director of Parveen Travels and president of omni bus owners association, Mr. Afzal spoke about how volunteers have been approaching them from Saturday onwards and how more calls are expected from Monday. State transport minister, Mr. M. R. Vijayabaskar expressed his views and spoke about how the damage was more in the places like Kumbakonam and Kodaikanal. He later added that services were stopped partially in some places because of fallen trees that were not removed completely.
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