BELAGAVI: Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi’s private SUV getting its tanks filled at the KSRTC bus depot fuel station here has triggered a controversy at a time when State Road Transport Corporations are facing a severe finance crunch. Soon after the news went viral on Saturday, Savadi ordered action against a corporation employee for refilling the SUV, while letting the vehicle driver go scot-free.
As per Savadi’s instructions, the KSRTC depot manager at Belagavi issued a show-cause notice to junior assistant B N Kishor for the incident that put the minister in a spot. On Friday, the SUV (KA 03, NF 8989) was filled with 44 litres of diesel. When the video went viral, the DCM hastily decided to take action against the corporation employee, questioning him as to why the department should not initiate disciplinary action against him for refilling a private vehicle.
Divisional Commissioner of NWKRTC, Belagavi, M R Munji told mediapersons, “We have already served the show-cause notice to the concerned staff. The employee committed the mistake of refilling the minister’s car without checking its registration number. The incident occurred when the minister was at the depot for the inauguration of various works implemented by KSRTC.”
The vehicles belonging to transport corporations have “F” series of registration numbers and get fuel free of cost at corporations’ depots. The Belagavi depot employee might have mistaken minister’s SUV to be one such vehicle and filled fuel, Munji justified. On Saturday, the SUV driver paid Rs 3,542 towards 44 litres of fuel.