Bareilly, June 6: The driver and conductor of the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) have been suspended with “immediate effect” after they stopped the Delhi-bound ‘Janrath’ AC bus for a “few extra minutes” to allow two passengers to offer ‘namaz’.
The incident occurred late Sunday night when a UPSRTC bus carrying 14 people left the Bareilly terminal and made an unannounced stop on National Highway-24 in the Milak region of Rampur district.
Some passengers objected when they saw the bus had stopped to allow two co-passengers to offer namaz. One of them recorded a video and shared it on Twitter. This passenger stated on Twitter that the bus stopped and two people jumped out and began offering ‘namaz’ in front of it.
Sanjeev Kumar Srivastava, assistant regional manager (ARM) of UPSRTC in Bareilly, suspended driver KP Singh and conductor Mohit Yadav following a complaint.
Meanwhile, the driver stated that there were only 14 people on the bus, and a few of them desired to use the roadside bathroom, so he came to a halt. “Then two additional passengers voiced their desire to offer ‘namaz,’ and he agreed to stop the vehicle for five minutes longer to accommodate them,” he claimed.
“We don’t think they’ve done anything wrong by praying,” the co-driver said and added, “We will fight our suspension.” Deepak Chaudhary, UPSRTC regional manager (Bareilly), stated, “Passengers of the bus, which was on its way to Kaushambi (Delhi border), made a complaint to me, and I directed the ARM to look into the matter.
Following an initial investigation, we suspended the driver and co-driver since the safety and security of the passengers cannot be jeopardised by halting the bus on a busy highway.”
Meanwhile, the employee welfare association has spoken out in support of the two suspended employees.
Hari Mohan Mishra, president of the association, stated, “Employees cannot be suspended without a proper investigation. A committee is constituted in such cases, and action is done once the panel deems the defendant guilty. They were not even given the opportunity to explain this situation.” So far, no police complaints have been filed in this situation.
