Kochi: A group of right-wing activists moved the High Court on Monday charging the KSRTC with not permitting decoration of special Pampa bus services, a charge its managing director denied.
“We’re asked not to decorate the buses plying for Sabarimala pilgrims at the Ernakulam Railway Station on Sunday. Similar incidents were reported from Kollam too. The decoration is part of a belief, and the practice was there for many years now. Hence we moved the court,” said BJP leader Siva Sankaran.
However, KSRTC MD Antony Chacko termed the row as “unnecessary” and clarified that there was no restriction on decorating special service buses operated to and from Pampa during the two-month pilgrimage season.
“It’s all due to confusion. Last week, the Attingal assistant transport officer issued a direction restricting decoration on these services. He had earlier sought permission to take the step from the chief office at Thiruvananthap-uram. However, the executive director (technical) said decoration on the windshield is not allowed as the same would block the view of the driver. The rest of decorations are permissible,” Mr Chacko said.
However, the Attingal ATO went ahead and issued the order. “We’ve now served a memo against him, and I want to make it clear there is no restriction on the decoration of the buses,” he said.
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