Thefts in trains have increased, of late, particularly during nights. The police escorts on duty are supposed to be on the move all the time, walking from coach to coach and observing suspicious elements loitering near the doors.
These escorts are occupying the vacant berths soon after getting into the train and having a good sleep, says a frequent traveller.
When there are no vacant berths, they are even sitting near the feet of sleeping passengers. TTEs are also not objecting to it, he says.
When this is the state of affairs in reserved compartments, including AC coaches, the fate of passengers in general coaches can well be imagined.
These days, college students can be often seen trying to board city buses at busy traffic junctions or after the bus had started moving from the bus stops.
The other day a college boy ran for quite a distance, after a city bus (route no. 28) started moving, and jumped on to the bus.
The conductor asked the boy for his bus pass and gave it to the driver. The boy started pleading with the conductor and driver to return his bus pass.
The boy said he was going home and if he missed the bus, he would have to wait for a long time.
The conductor rightly asked him: “What’s the hurry when you are returning home?” You can wait for another bus, which would in any way come after 5 to 10 minutes.
He also told him that another college student had lost both his kidneys after he came under the wheels of the bus, while trying to board a moving bus.
The boy had no answer. The victim, who lost his kidney, would have to suffer all his life. It would be living misery for his helpless parents.
Many a time, college students argue with bus conductors when they snatch their bus passes or question their ‘careless attitude’.
RTC drivers and conductors are being taken to task by the RTC authorities, for no fault of theirs, when passengers meet with accidents.
It is high time parents kept a watch on the ‘on road behaviour’ of their children.
They should frequently warn them against running after buses or boarding moving buses and risking their lives. The maxim ‘start early, reach safely’ should be inculcated in children early in life.
B. Madhu Gopal
