06 July,2010 08:34 AM IST | | Manjunath L Hanji
Angry daily bus pass buyers ask why the transport minister cancelled bus services after announcing they would ply as usual during the bandh
Furious Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) commuters blamed Transport Minister R Ashok for issuing daily bus passes despite a bandh.
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The BMTC sold over 2,000 passes till 8 am this morning before suddenly withdrawing services.
Yesterday, Transport Minister R Ashok had announced that BMTC buses would ply in the city despite the bandh.
Commuters were seen complaining and quarreling with BMTC officials over the daily pass issue.
A commuter this reporter spoke to, said, "If they expected violence, they should have informed the conductors and officials who issued the passes. We want our money back."
S Shivamurthy, the assistant transport manager, BMTC, revealed, "From the information we have received so far, more than 2,000 passes were issued.
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Yesterday, our minister didn't inform us, so we kept plying buses as usual.
However, at 8 am some buses were damaged due to stone pelting. To control the damage, R Ashok ordered us to stop plying the buses. We had to take all buses off the roads."