Men will have to cough up Rs. 100 if found occupying ladies’ seats in buses

With several men not following the directive, the district police have decided to take a tough stance against those occupying the seats reserved for women in the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses.

The police will launch a drive to prevent men from occupying seats meant for women in buses from Monday and impose a penalty of Rs. 100 each against offenders, Bhushan Gulabrao Borase, Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu.

In spite of the drivers and conductors asking occupants of women’s seats, people were not obliging.

Therefore, women passengers had to travel on footboards of buses, prompting the department to launch a drive against this practice from Monday, he said. “We have displayed boards and are creating awareness by playing audio recording at bus stands. Our staff members will hold similar programmes at taluk and hobli centres,” he said.

Men should voluntarily offer seats to women passengers. The corporation had directed the conductors and the drivers to assist women in getting the seats reserved for them, M. Ramesh, Divisional Controller of KSRTC (Mandya), told this correspondent.

The KSRTC had introduced special buses for women passengers.“We will operate special buses, exclusively for women and children, between Maddur and Malavalli through Kala Muddana Doddi, during school/college time,” Mr. Ramesh said.

The corporation had said that a large number of girls were commuting regularly from Maddur and Malavalli to Kala Muddana Doddi where several educational institutions were existing.

Women conductors would be deployed for such buses that operate during peak hours, he said.

The corporation had depots at Mandya, Maddur, Malavalli, Nagamangala, K.R. Pet and Pandavapura. It had 475 buses and operates stage carriage services on several routes across the district. Of the 2,000 employees of the State transport corporation, 70 were women conductors and another 65 women were technical staff working in the depots.

The district police had recently launched the bus gate campaign to prevent men passengers from boarding KSRTC buses through the front door.

Male passengers, according to the campaign, should enter the buses only through the rear doors. If the vehicle had a single door entry, then, preference should be given to women.