Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Former manager Siddharth Bansod today demanded to probe irregularities which are taking in the Smart City Bus Division for the past many years.
While speaking to media persons, Bansod said, “The Smart Bus service was introduced in the city on January 23, 2019. However, while operating the bus service, the Chief Operations Manager (COM) is turning his back towards many serious issues. As per RTO, it is mandatory to collect ticket charges from the passengers, but the collection was done on the orders of COM for some time only.”
Bansod alleged that the Smart City buses were provided for the Satsung programme which was held at Bidkin. The charges collected from the passenger was Rs 50 each which was against the rule. Besides, a receipt of Rs 2400 each was given to some buses. The repair and maintenance of the buses is not done in time. This is the reason why accidents have increased. In addition, one woman tourist had complained to the management about an untidy and uncleaned bus operated on the tourist route, he said.
Bansod added, “Eight months ago, one bus was burnt. Its inquiry is yet to be done. The damaged bus is still lying here. The bus timetable is not proper, as a result, it is affecting the income on different routes. I had made several complaints to the CEO Abhijeet Chaudhari, but he paid no heed to it.”
When contacted the Chief Operations Manager Ram Paunikar said, “The contractual services of Bansod have been stopped. The allegations levelled by him are baseless as he is not working. He had the same behaviour while he was working with us.”