CHENNAI: The Mandaiveli bus depot, which is usually bustling with buses zooming in and out, wore a deserted look in the early hours of Monday after a fight between a bus conductor and control room staff about assigning duty on a national holiday. Following the fracas, agitated drivers refused to take their vehicles for over two hours. “Over 30 per cent of the buses were taken off roads today on account of Ramzan. At 5:45 am, one of the conductors, Ramachandran, who was not assigned duty, approached the control room staff and it soon turned into a heated argument and they started hitting each other,” a driver at the depot said on condition of anonymity.
Ramachandran, who was badly hurt, approached the E4 police station at Abhiramapuram to file a complaint after which he was rushed to Royapettah government hospital. A police official told Deccan Chronicle that the reason for the fight was partially political as the control room staff belong to AIADMK and the conductor is a communist. Though FIR has not been filed, drivers at the depot refused to take out their buses till 10 am.
As a consequence of the fracas, commuters at Mandaiveli were irked even over by the very low frequency of buses, which was already low due to Ramzan. Muslims living in the area complained that they had to hail cabs to see their friends and relatives. “We were unaware of the fight at depot and waited at the bus stop for more than an hour. Auto drivers who saw an opportunity charged exorbitant prices,” said Muhammed Israr, a resident, adding that travelling to the mosque to offer early morning prayers also became an issue.
Joint secretary of Nethaji Transport Union, K. Anbazhagan, said the reason for this was improper choice of staff at the control room. “The post of assigning duties must be filled by a traffic inspector. But, they have allotted a junior driver instead. So, many senior drivers refuse to respect his orders,” he said.
