Off-loading of passengers from overcrowded bus criticised

Administration, however, says enough buses operate during peak hours

Monday’s action by Udupi Deputy Commissioner in getting excess passengers from an overcrowded bus offloaded at Kallianpur-Santhekatte for defying COVID-19 protocol came under severe criticism after the video of a student airing her difficulties went viral on social media platforms. The girl, apparently an undergraduate student, said that she went to her college in Udupi as there was a semester examination. “Otherwise, I would have stayed home,” she said. There are very few direct buses to her place, Shiriyara near Siddapura, from Udupi operating at a frequency of about half an hour each. “Every bus during the peak hours get overcrowded and getting us off the bus without offering any alternative arrangement was inhuman,” she lamented. The girl also said that even the next bus to her destination came fully packed and there was little chance of her reaching home before nightfall.