“Bus Aur Nahin”, a nationwide anti-ragging campaign by the Muthoot Pappachan Foundation, a philanthropic organisation, entered the city on Thursday.
Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari flagged off the city leg of the campaign at the St. Joseph's Pre-University College campus, from where the campaign bus will travel to different colleges in the city during the next two days spreading the crucial message.
The bus will visit institutions such as Bishop Cotton college, Mahaveer Jain College, Christ College, B.M.S. College of Engineering and Jyoti Nivas College where the foundation's representatives will collect students' signatures.
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Slogans, graffiti
At St. Joseph's, the students thronged the boards to etch their slogans as well as graffiti. “When there are no forums to control ragging, these initiatives will develop awareness,” said Vinay, a first PU student, who participated in the signature campaign.
The bus, festooned with anti-ragging graphics, began its journey in Delhi on August 11 and will travel to 11 cities before reaching its destination in Chennai. Bangalore is its sixth stop after New Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. From Bangalore, the bus will travel to Kozhikode, Kochi, Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram before reaching its last stop.
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The Bangalore campaign saw the highest turnout yet.
No cases
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bidari pointed out that during the last two years no ragging cases had been registered in the city.
“I hope [we] will not witness any instance of ragging in the future also,” he added.
Reverend Vijayakumar Prabhu, president of the Jesuit Educational Society, and Pravin Salian, vice-president of Muthoot Fincorp, also spoke.