BMTC, KSRTC buses take a beating

BMTC, KSRTC buses take a beating

On the damage to buses, Mr Tripathy said, “People must understand that buses are public property. If this is the cost, how can we release the state of art Volvo buses.”

Deccan Herald

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) whose buses were the worst hit in the violence on Friday, have termed the trend of “protesters giving vent to their anger by damaging public property,” as unfortunate and uncultured.

The authorities of the KSRTC and BMTC buses have had to pay a heavy price to set right the damage. The two agencies have had to pump in extra men, money and material to get their buses back on track.

Losses incurred
While, BMTC has incurred a loss of Rs 1.19 crore, KSRTC has suffered damage amounting to Rs 10 lakh. BMTC staff are working overtime to fix the 350 buses that were damaged.

“About 50 buses were repaired and deployed on City roads on Saturday. We have incurred Rs 40 lakh on repairs. We will not cause inconvenience to the public and will make sure the buses are put back on the roads within a few days’ time,” BMTC Managing Director Upendra Tripathy told Deccan Herald on Saturday.
He expressed his reservations about the safety of the new Volvo buses, if they were released in the City.

“If this is the kind of cost we have to bear, then how will we release the state of art Volvo buses? Each of these buses cost Rs 50 lakh,” said Mr Tripathy. He said he would request the government to provide a loan to recover the losses. KSRTC Managing Director M R Sreenivas Murthy said they had incurred a loss of Rs 10 lakh.

“Our preliminary assessment show that more than 50 buses were damaged,” Mr Murthy said and added, “we would have to find our own resources to finance the repair.”

Conversion a myth
Ordinary people were also targetted by the activists. While, some were stopped and forced to get out of their cars, some others were stoned and prevented from going to the Benny Hinn show.

Former member of Planning Commission L C Jain has expressed his displeasure over the incidents of violence.

“People will not convert to another religion by simply listening to a preacher. The protesters were actually casting doubts on the integrity and character of the people. If 300 years of British rule could not get the Indians to convert to Christianity, what can an ordinary preacher do?” wondered Mr Jain.

Litterateur L S Sheshagiri Rao said he does not approve of people ransacking public property and indulging in violence.

“Damaging public property will not strengthen anybody, it will only weaken them. It is unfair to prevent people from attending such meetings,” Prof Rao said.
Terming Friday’s incident as “utterly stupid”, former director general of police S C Burman, commented that the police should have been more vigilant.

“Preventive arrests could have been made. People coming in from the rural areas in trucks, by foot and buses, to prevent the show, could have been intercepted en route to the show,” said Mr Burman.

Violence unwarranted
Vice-chancellor of Bangalore University Thimmappa, while condemning the form the protests had taken, said: “the violence that happened on Friday was uncalled for. But here are a group of people who have stood up for what they believe is untrue and false.” Mr Thimmappa also believes that Benny Hinn is engaging in mass hypnosis.