BELAGAVI: “We want a bus to go to school!” This was the emotional cry of school children from Kondaskoppa village located on the outskirts of Belagavi city and near Suvarna Vidhana Soudha (SVS), who took to the streets and blocked the National Highway near SVS on Wednesday.
Despite living just a few kilometers away from SVS, which is a power house of North Karnataka, the hapless children are deprived of their basic right -- transportation to school.
With no regular bus service to their village, students are forced to walk a kilometer daily under rain or shine to catch a bus to reach school. When they try to board other village buses which are normally crowded all the time, they face verbal abuse and even harassment from the other passengers.
“We have tolerated this long enough. Now we can’t stay silent, we want dedicated bus service to our village” said one of the agitating students.
Frustrated by repeated plea's to KSRTC officials going unheard, students along with their parents staged a protest by blocking the Bengaluru–Pune National Highway near Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday morning.
The protest brought traffic to a standstill for over a kilometer. Police from Hirebagewadi rushed to the spot and arranged temporary transport to send the students to school.
However, some students chose to skip school and instead marched straight to the Deputy Commissioner’s office to raise their voice. They submitted a written appeal demanding a regular bus service to their village.
“We want a bus every hour. We are students too, and if our education is neglected, whom will the system believe in?” They asked. Besides we students, the construction labourers, daily wage workers, youths working in the private sector depend on the public transport to reach their work from the same village. Therefore, a dedicated bus service to Kondaskoppa village must be started,' they urged.