COIMBATORE: The feud between TNSTC and School Education Department over free bus passes as taken yet another turn with the transport corporation issuing a warning that students without a pass will not be allowed to travel in buses from November. This, when the TNSTC is yet to issue the passes for the current academic year.
In a letter to Chief Educational Officer (CEO) R Murugan on Monday, the TNSTC Coimbatore Division has said that it will issue free bus passes to students from November. However, children without passes cannot travel in government buses, it has ruled. It has asked schools to apply for the same to avoid such a situation.
The headmaster of a higher secondary school in the city notes that the TNSTC always falls short of its promises about the bus passes. The passes for last year were only issued in March 2019 -- after the academic year had ended. Hence, many students had to travel without a pass for the entire year and had run into problems in the process, the headmaster explains.
A headmaster in Karamdai block says that they had applied for the passes three months ago. However, the TNSTC has said only now that they will issue it in November. The headmaster has no reason to believe that they will follow through on the assurance. "The TNSTC should issue the bus passes and then make such announcements about not allowing those without passes to travel in government buses. After this announcement by TNSTC, conductors will ask students to show their passes; if they do not have it, they will be forced to buy a ticket. This, even when the children have applied for a pass," the headmaster explains.
Mettupalayam Municipality School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) President S Basha recalls that the transport workers had made students buy tickets even after the transport minister issued a verbal order to not collect tickets from any child wearing a school uniform. Five such incidents, where children were forced off the bus or made to buy tickets, happened in Mettupalayam and its surrounding last academic year. Hence, the TNSTC should issue the bus passes at the start of the academic year, Basha suggests.
TNSTC Coimbatore Division General Manager K S Mahindrakumar said that they have asked conductors and checking inspectors to allow students to travel in government buses after checking if they are going to school or back home, irrespective of whether they have a pass or not.
Another TNSTC official claimed that most of the headmasters have not applied for free buses for their students. It is to get them to start the process that the letter about bus passes was sent, he said. The official also claimed that they have not printed the bus passes as the government is planning to combine the free bus pass with the students' smart ID-card.