COIMBATORE: Should they pay or not was the question that racked the brains of G K Subramanian, a TNSTC driver from Valparai Branch, for the better part of a decade whenever he saw policemen in uniform or ‘mufti’ travel without shelling out the fare aboard the corporation-owned buses.
The constant refrain of ‘government staff on duty’ seemingly disarmed conductors whenever they dared to seek the fare. However, a revelation came when Subramanian finally had had enough, and filed a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The TNSTC, in its reply, stated that it had made no provision for the people in khaki or plainclothes to travel free on the State-owned buses.
A resident of Kodumudi in Erode district, Subramanian filed the query with the TNSTC’s Coimbatore Branch. He wanted to know whether the Corporation had given approval to the policemen to travel free from their houses to their places of work. When the answer came, it ended decade-long speculation: no one had been extended the free-travel facility. Subramanian said that the TNSTC had also not given approval for ‘free travel’ on personal journeys. “From now on, if a policeman travels for free, conductors aboard the bus shall be held accountable,” said Subramanian, who is also the State secretary of Tamizh Pokkuvarathu Podhu Thozhir Sangam.
“I decided to seek the information under the RTI, as policemen travelling free of cost had become a regular practice. I really wanted to know if there was any provision for such travel. There have been instances when the policemen wreaked vengeance on conductors for demanding fare. Nine years ago, a policeman registered an FIR against conductor Periyasamy, who was the president of trade union LPF, for demanding ticket fare. There was an instance around six months ago when a policewoman assaulted a conductor for asking the ticket fare for her child,” he said.
“Besides policemen, common public too ill-treat us. What is worse is that the people in khaki are not willing to shell out the ticket fare despite the State government raising their dearness allowance (DA). They seldom buy tickets when travelling to their native places or while accompanying crime case accused,” said Subramanian.
He noted that there have been occasions when TNSTC authorities told conductors to ‘cooperate’ with the police and allow them to travel free as the khaki-clad travellers often extend ‘favours’ to the Corporation. “If this be the case, why should the TNSTC not extend the facility to revenue officials such as Tahsildar or Village Administrative Officers, who also are doing public service,” he asked. The ‘favour’ is about policemen turning a blind eye to traffic violations by TNSTC drivers.
However, not all in khaki are free travellers. An intelligence wing personnel said, “We travel free only when the TNSTC conductor, knowing us to be policemen, does not demand ticket. Only a few conductors want us to show our ID cards when we are in plainclothes.
However, whenever we travel to our native place with family, we procure tickets as we do not want to enter into a verbal clash with conductors; it will also be a matter of shame if any fellow passenger raises the issue.” A senior TNSTC official confirmed that most of the policemen do travel free of cost. However, there is no order directing the Corporation to allow policemen to travel free, the official added.
Ending decade-long speculation and how
A resident of Kodumudi in Erode district, Subramanian filed the query with the TNSTC’s Coimbatore Branch. He wanted to know whether the Corporation had given approval to the policemen to travel free from their houses to their places of work. When the answer came, it ended a decade-long speculation: no one had been extended the free-travel facility.
‘Favour’ to policemen for turning a blind eye
There have been occasions when TNSTC authorities told the conductors to ‘cooperate’ with the police and allow them to travel free as the khaki-clad travellers often extend ‘favours’ to the Corporation. The favour the RTI applicant Subramanian is talking about relates to policemen turning a blind eye to traffic violations by TNSTC drivers.