Team Mangalorean

Udupi: A conductor of a limited-stop bus has been warned and slapped with a fine for having heeded to the request to provide a female passenger with a seat reserved for women.

On January 28, a passenger, Anand R Poojari, a resident from Kapajikere near Bengre-Padubidri is reported to have boarded the bus 'Sri Ganesh' with wife. The couple boarded the bus at Padubidri and were heading towards Udupi. When Anand  reportedly saw a male seated on the seats reserved for women, he called out to the conductor and requested him to see that the seat be given to his wife by getting the man to vacate it.

The conductor reportedly replied, "If you want, you tell him yourself". After unboarding the bus at Udupi, Anand Poojary is said to have complained to the regional transport officer (RTO) of Udupi giving full description of the bus.

A copy of the complaint was sent to circle inspector Shivanand Walekar, transport department secretary P B Ramamoorthy and transport commissioner T Shyam Bhat.

An intensive inquiry into the incident was held for three months. The bus conductor Sitaram and Bhaitak Shiekh Mirza have been fined a sum of three hundred rupees by Udupi RTO H N Ramesh.

They have also been warned of action like cancellation of bus permit should such incident recur.