HYDERABAD: It is often uncommon to witness a seat reserved for a senior citizen in TSRTC buses actually being left unoccupied for the elderly. However, a senior citizen waged a lone battle against a bus depot manager for failing to provide him with a seat after he paid `40 and `72 for tickets in two separate bus journeys. He sued the cash-strapped TSRTC and was awarded `30,000 as compensation by a district consumer forum.
Ch Nagender, a 64-year-old advocate complained that the conductor of the bus he was travelling in failed to ensure that the senior citizens seat was earmarked clearly. Due to the same of the seat, the occupants never bothered to get up and offer him a seat, he alleged.
It was on New Year’s day that Nagender chose to travel by a TSRTC bus. The number of occupants on the bus was particularly high that day, leaving Nagender and many others standing. Nagender urged persons who were sitting on the seat to offer him the same by taking his age into consideration.
His request, however, was denied. In his complaint to the Ranga Reddy district forum, Nagender held that the reserved seats for senior citizens were not earmarked as it should have been. Owing to his kidney failure and pain in the knees, the travel was especially painful for him.
The forum chided TSRTC for failing to hold up its own norms about seat reservations. It directed the corporation to pay Nagender `10,000 as compensation and `5,000 as court charges. In a separate instance under similar circumstances, Nagender received `15,000 as compensation.