56 KPN Travels Buses Worth Rs 50 crore Burnt in Bengaluru

September 13, 2016 13:26
56 KPN Travels Buses Worth Rs 50 crore Burnt in Bengaluru

As many as 56 buses worth Rs 50 crore belonging to  KPN Travels,  from Salem, Tamil Nadu, went up in smoke as some 200 agitators barged into the company's bus shed in D’Souza Layout, Dwaraka Nagar, Banashankari and  hurled petrol bombs at them on Monday.

Mr. Ansar, a manager of KPN’s regional office in the city, said "I had received calls at around 5pm  from the drivers at the shed informing him about the attack and immediately called the local police and fire department. But by the time the fire tenders arrived at 7pm all the sleeper, semi-sleeper, AC and Non-AC buses valued at over Rs 50 crore, were burnt."

Asked about the delay in responding to KPN’s SOS, Mr.  N R Markandeya, Deputy Director of Fire and Emergency Services, blamed it on protestors blocking the way of the fire tenders. “We swung into action as soon as we received the call and dispatched nine fire tenders from various zones to the spot, but protestors held them up in many areas, ” he said.

"It took two hours to put out the fire in the shed, which was finally doused by 9 pm.  A neighboring shed owned by a Kannadiga was not touched, according to sources.  There were few cops to control the agitators," said eyewitnesses.



The private bus operators have born the brunt of the violence. Pramod Kutty, president of the Kerala Bus Owners Association, Bengaluru said "around 300 services to and from Kerala were hit by the violence. We have canceled all the services and refunded the money."

“The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation have also stopped their services. There is no point in taking a risk,” he said.  

According to the surge fare system of luxury buses, a passenger has to pay between Rs 1150- Rs 2,100 on Tuesday to get home and Rs 582 to Rs 1408 in Kerala state buses and Rs 600-Rs 1124 in Karnataka buses.

The violence erupted soon after Supreme court ordered Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu till September 20.

All the transport facilities, schools, colleges and IT offices were shut down. Many public properties were damaged.

Also Read: Violence Erupts in Karnataka After SC Order

BY M. DIVYA SRI

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