Kozhikode: A bus was speeding dangerously from Kozhikode to Kuttipuram on July 6 and a scared woman passenger sent an SMS to collector N. Prasanth seeking his intervention.
He acted immediately; the bus was intercepted by the police and the driver fined. The grateful woman, Swapna Manoj, posted her experience on her Facebook account and hailed the collector for his good governance.
From the moment Swapna boarded the bus in Kozhikode, it was going at break-neck speed. “I was sitting next to the driver and was scared. He saw my anxious expressions, but was in no mood to slow down. The bus then brushed against a tempo and I could no longer wait. I private- messaged the collector on his mobile phone. In 15 minutes I got a call back from Prasanth asking me for the bus number and route,” Swapna Manoj noted on her FB wall.
By the time the bus reached Kottakkal, the conductor asked the driver to slow down saying that one woman was complaining to someone about rash driving. The driver then reduced the speed and when it reached Randathani, the Valanchery police stopped it and fined the driver.
She was overjoyed with the quick response she got from the collector. “This kind of action from people like you gives us the assurance and confidence that real governance works,” she wrote. Prasanth later shared this post on his timeline with a note that his wife and children always complain about him not attending to their calls.
