RTC Employees Union seeks action amid surge in attacks on on-duty drivers, conductors

Raising serious concern over what they described as a rise in attacks on on-duty drivers and conductors of the AP Public Transport Department, also known as APSRTC, leaders of the RTC Employees Union have urged the authorities to deal stringently with aggressive passengers by registering cases under non-bailable sections.

In a statement issued on Sunday, APPTD Employees Union State president P. Damodara Rao and general secretary G. V. Narasayya said the union had written separate letters to Home Minister V. Anitha and Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta, drawing attention to the increasing incidents of violence against RTC staff.

They said that despite facing several difficulties while implementing the Stree Shakti free bus travel scheme for women, APSRTC drivers and conductors had been working diligently to ensure its success. However, incidents of attacks on drivers and conductors by aggressive passengers had been on the rise. They demanded that FIRs be registered under non-bailable sections against those responsible.

The leaders said the union’s State committee members would soon meet the Home Minister and the Deputy Inspector General of Police in person to press their demand.

Alleging that hundreds of such attacks had taken place since the Stree Shakti scheme was implemented on August 15 last year, they said the absence of strong departmental and legal action had emboldened offenders, leading to a steady increase in attacks on RTC employees.

Referring to a recent incident on Saturday, January 24, involving a woman conductor from the Narsaraopet depot in Palnadu district, they said a female passenger had demanded that the bus be stopped at a particular spot. As stopping there was not feasible due to traffic concerns, the conductor halted the bus at a safer location without causing obstruction. The passenger, allegedly enraged, assaulted the conductor, forcibly snatched the ticket issuing machine and threw it out of the bus, causing damage.

The union leaders demanded stern action against the offender and said the RTC management should install boards in all buses and bus stations clearly warning passengers that assaulting on-duty staff is a punishable offence under the law. They added that several representations had already been submitted over the past four months to RTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Dwaraka Tirumala Rao seeking such measures, and that the union would meet him on Monday to reiterate the request.