KASARGOD: A Thiruvananthapuram-Kollur KSRTC bus ran out of diesel on reaching Kasaragod but the conductor did not have money to buy fuel because most of the passengers booked their tickets online. After haggling for around two hours, Kasaragod depot gave the conductor Rs 20,000 to buy fuel.
“This is not done. I have sent my report to the headquarters against this practice because we are also struggling for fuel for the past 20 days,” said district transport officer Roy Jacob. It is the responsibility of the mother depot to ensure that conductors of their buses on long trips have enough money to buy diesel, he said.
The Thirunanathapuram-Kollur Mookambika bus, which travels around 750km one way, should have reached Kasaragod by 3.15am but rolled into the stand only around 5.30am. When Kasaragod depot refused to give the conductor money, the passengers of the bus started making a hue and cry.
“There was 6,000 litres of diesel in Payyannur depot and 6,200 litres of diesel in Kannur depot. But the bus came here with an empty tank,” the officer said. The private fuel stations in Kasaragod have stopped supplying diesel to Kasaragod depot and the buses buy diesel by dipping into their ticket collection. The depot earns around Rs 11 lakh to Rs 12 lakh everyday of which Rs 3 lakh goes for fuel.