Students pelt bus with stones for not stopping, stage protest

YADGIR: Angry that a bus did not stop for them, a group of school and college students pelted stones at the bus, breaking its rear windshield, at Allipura village in the taluk on Thursday.

The students were waiting to board a bus to head to their schools and colleges. They flagged down the Kalaburagi-Yadgir bus, but when it did not stop, they pelted it with stones, breaking the rear windshield. It is said that there were about 90 passengers in the bus at that time and since it was full, the driver did not stop.

The students placed stones and sat on protest on the road.

The students have been facing problems reaching their schools and colleges with buses not stopping for them. Angered by this, one of the students, threw a stone at the bus, damaging the windshield. When the driver stopped after this, the students sat in protest after placing stones and blocked traffic in both directions.

“We were forced to resort to such action because the conductors don’t stop the buses. We are facing problems in reaching schools and colleges adn we are missing out on one or two classes every day. We have paid Rs 40,000-50,000 towards admission fees and are losing out on classes. The bus conductors and drivers deliberately don’t stop. The authorities should arrange a separate bus for us”, the students demanded.

Traffic on the road was affected for some time.

The protesting students relented only after the police arrived on the scene and convinced them of taking up the issue with the authorities. Only then, normal traffic resumed on the road.

After taking the bus to the depot, the driver and conductor said there were already about 100 passengers in the bus and hence, they did not stop as there was no space for more passengers.