Mangaluru: The Puttur division of the KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transportation Corporation) distributed 240 free bus passes under facilities given to endo-victims here at Kokkada Primary Health Center on Friday.
An Altercation between KSRTC officials and a phone call to the District Health Officer (DHO) of Dakshina Kannada by endo-activist Shridhar Gowda facilitated Kamala, mother of 15-year-old victim Ashwat to secure free pass. However the KSRTC, which, though in the beginning asked applicants to produce the order copy of the Tashildar issued to Kamala (document to acknowledge victim entitled to stipend), later relaxed the stipulation, and handed over the pass on the basis of smart card or identity card.
Kamala and similarly placed endo-victims, were backed by endo-activist Shridhar Gowda who had assured them, the day before that he would ensure the pass reaches the victims’ hand. When KSRTC officials stressed for production of the Tashildar order, Shridhar Gowda protested, demanding a pass to be issued to the parents. He phoned DHO Ramakrishna Rao and DHO requested the officials, besides ordering Primary Health Officer to do the attestation of smart card for KSRTC to issue passes on the basis of smart card.
While, KSRTC also demanded presence of victims to procure signature as a part of pass distribution drive, Gowda reprimanded officials asking to give away passes on humanitarian grounds. This forced KSRTC to go easy on Friday distributing 240 cards to victims. However the number of victims failing under Kokkada PHC is 470. “The left out victims either have to travel to Koila of Puttur taluk or have to collect bus passes from KSRTC, Puttur division,” expressed Shridhar Gowda, activist from Endo Virodhi Horata Samiti, Kokkada.
He rapped the district administration playing with the emotions of victims citing complex regulations, even as stipend from February has not reached the victims. He alleged that there was a lack of information on the free bus pass distribution camp due to which many failed to turnup. He advised that 2-3 distribution drives should be organized in Kaniyuru, Kokkada and Ujire, the places where medical camps to identify endo-victims were held earlier.
When Venugopal R, Divisional Controller, KSRTC Puttur, was contacted, he said, “we received a clarification from the authorities to relax norms”. He did not elaborate on whether the order was written or oral. He also did not come clear on what were the clarifications issued by authorities sitting at Bengaluru.
