Heave ho! Buses in Shirahatti run on passengers’ muscle power

GADAG: The journey is tough for people from Shirahatti and surrounding areas. Before climbing onto public transport buses attached to the Shirahatti depot of the North Western Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), passengers should have had a proper meal and be ready to push these buses weighing tonnes to make them start and also to move them when they stop midway through the journey.

Not just one or two, majority of the buses attached to the depot are in this patheticcondition, passengers complain. This depot is a relatively new one, launched only in March this year, after much protest and memorandums to elected representatives from people of the region over the years. But it has been a miss-start from the beginning, with the quality deteriorating over the months.

It has now reached a stage where people are scared to travel in these buses as they are not sure at all of reaching their destination on time. Passengers have put out several videos and photos of people pushing stalled buses that have gone viral, but still, transport department authorities seem not to acknowledge and correct the problem.

A regular bus commuter said, “It has become our daily routine to push the bus. All buses have a starting problem here, and we don’t know whether it is because of the bad quality of batteries or some other technical issue. When the buses stop midway, we have to wait for other buses or private vehicles to continue our journey. We have given many memorandums and oral complaints to the authorities, but in vain”. An official from the bus depot admitted that some buses are old and they create problems for passengers. However, he added, the divisional controller has ordered 18 new buses that may be delivered in two to three days.

Gadag Divisional Controller FC Hiremath said, “We have provided good-condition buses and all of them have fitness certificates. Complaints of pushing vehicles could be with some old ones. We know that some videos and photos of buses being pushed have gone viral on social media sites.”