Conductor refuses tickets to 25

Singh said about 25 passengers and five staff members of Haryana Roadways including a checker, a mechanic and another employee were also travelling by the same bus.

Singh, in a statement, said that he with many other passengers boarded the bus at 9.30 pm at Mandi and paid Rs 36 to the conductor to buy two tickets. Singh said that after charging the bus fare, the conductor said that the tickets would be given at Pandoh, the next stoppage of the bus on the Mandi-Kullu road. The secretary of the minority cell alleged that at Pandoh, in a dhaba, the driver, conductor and three other staff members of the roadways consumed liquor and took their dinner but the conductor did not issue bus tickets to the passengers despite repeated requests.

Singh alleged that from Pandoh to Hangoi, a risky stretch on the Mandi-Kullu road, the conductor drove the bus, putting the lives of passengers in danger. At Badah village located at a few yards before the octroi post of Municipal Council of Kullu, several passengers again insisted upon the conductor to give them the tickets but he bluntly refused and also taunted them.Only when some officials of the office of superintendent of police, Kullu, travelling by the same bus showed their identity cards to the conductor, did he issue the tickets.

But even then, he allegedly committed mischief and issued tickets worth less than the actual fare charged. Pavitter Singh paid Rs 72 for the tickets, but was given tickets worth Rs 50 only. The tickets lying with him bear serial numbers 704289, 704290, 704291, 704292, 556499 and 556498.