The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Employees' Union (INTUC) has asked the police to take action against those involved in the attack on a KSRTC bus driver near Kundapur on September 24.
Union general secretary K.S. Ratnakar told presspersons here on Wednesday that a group of people stopped the KSRTC bus and assaulted the driver of Kundapur division. The police should arrest the accused. Attack on KSRTC staff should be viewed seriously, he added.
Mr. Ratnakar said altercations between the people and KSRTC drivers or conductors were a result of the latter's lack of understanding of the local language. Most of the drivers and conductors were from north Karnataka and they were working for a meagre salary of Rs. 4,000. Commuters should understand the conditions in which these conductors and drivers worked, he said. Mr. Ratnakar said such a situation could be avoided by appointing local people as drivers and conductors. For this, there should be a change in the recruitment norms of the KSRTC. It should allow divisional-level recruitment. Such recruitment process would give preference to locals.
