Hold AMTS Accountable
Amdavadis no longer need to suffer the boorish behaviour of AMTS employees in silence. Just pick up the phone, dial 1800-2330881 and register your complaint
Yogesh Avasthi , Hemington James
Posted On Wednesday, May 30, 2012 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2012053020120530031251284f74eb5e8 )
» Saroj Gandhi, a 38-year-old Satellite resident, was left fuming after she realised she had been shortchanged by the conductor of the AMTS bus she had travelled in. But she felt helpless as she had no idea how to register a complaint against him.
» Vadaj resident Kapil Shah, 27, was late to office on Tuesday. He kept waiting for a bus. One did arrive, but failed to halt at his stop. After unsuccessfully waiting for another 20 minutes, Kapil walked to a rickshaw stand and hired an auto.
» Shivangi Bhatt, a 19-year-old from Maninagar, frequently goes to Commerce Six Roads by bus. Most of the times, she ends up fighting with the driver for stopping the vehicle a few metres away from the bus stand.
Misbehaving drivers, cheating conductors or buses that do not arrive on schedule are not a surprise to passengers of AMTS buses. Now, Amdavadis no longer need to suffer in silence. To answer passengers’ woes as well as make its employees and contractors more accountable, Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service has made a toll-free number public. Your grievances can be registered at 1800-2330881.
The numbers will soon be displayed on every bus running on AMTS routes. “This number is connected to the main workshop in Jamalpur. An AMTS employee will note down the complaint and forward it to officials at assistant-manager level. They will attend to the problems at the earliest,” said an official.
“The complainants will have to give their contact number and details so that the officials can call back and verify the nature of the complaints and other necessary details,” he added.
Drivers resort to Violence
With AMTS bus contractors being paid per kilometre per bus that ply on the road, the quality of service has gone to pot. Frequent complaints of drivers skipping bus stands and even resorting to violence are common.
Last Thursday, a woman and her son were beaten up by an AMTS bus driver and his associates in Lal Darwaza. According to a complaint filed against driver Dilawar, Dhaval Patel and his mother Pushpaben, residents of Gheekanta, were waiting at the Mirzapur bus stand. At 2.30 pm, they saw bus no. 65/3 (which plies from Nigam Society to Santej) arrive. They tried to flag the bus but the driver did not slow down. Dhaval sat down on the road, forcing the driver to stop the vehicle. Both boarded the bus. Driver Dilawar took the bus to the main AMTS depot in Lal Darwaza and beat up Dhaval and his mother Pushpa with the help of his associates. The driver was employed by ABR (Adinath Bulk Carrier) which is operated by Shahpur councillor Kaushik Jain.
Surendra Bakshi, leader of opposition in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation had then said, “There are several complaints about AMTS’ private operators, but the authorities are not concerned. They only want to earn money and are not bothered about the people.”
A couple of weeks ago, another driver belonging to ABR had beaten up Congress MLA Shabir Kabliwala on March 7. Congress which is an opposition party in AMC demanded that the contractor be blacklisted and a police complaint filed against him.
Prateek Mehta, a Thaltej resident who catches a bus to reach his office on C G Road, says, “The drivers are not concerned about skipping bus stands. These men are paid a fixed amount per kilometre every day, even if the bus is running empty.”
A billing scam worth Rs 28.98 lakh took AMTS by storm in April after senior corporation officials suspected the connivance of the audit office which passed and paid the same bill twice. According to the sources in AMTS, a bill of Rs 28.98 lakh submitted by three private operators for January was paid in February. In March, the same bill was produced in the accounts office and the amount paid without any questioning. On Wednesday, a senior official from the accounts department found the mistake and brought it to the notice of the deputy municipal commissioner who issued show cause notice to at least eight AMTS officials of the rank of assistant manager.
Holding staff accountable
Deputy Municipal Commissioner Arjav Shah, who is also AMTS transport manager, did not name the officials but confirmed that eight officials had been issued show-cause notice and a vigilance inquiry ordered.
About the toll-free number, he said, “The number already existed but it had not been made public. We recently decided to display the number on all our vehicles so that passengers can report their grievances. For this, we got 1,200 white stickers which display the number in blue, and have started pasting it on the buses. We have ensured that the number is readable to commuters when the bus is stationary.”
Shah said, “This will make the system more transparent. It will be easier to make employees and contractors more accountable. Once the complaints will be reviewed by assistant manager (administration). If the complaint is related to a traffic offence, including the vehicle not stopping at the designated spot at bus stands, it will be directed to the traffic director and respected department head. They will then update me on how many complaints have been addressed.”
Yogesh Avasthi , Hemington James
Posted On Wednesday, May 30, 2012 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2012053020120530031251284f74eb5e8 )
» Saroj Gandhi, a 38-year-old Satellite resident, was left fuming after she realised she had been shortchanged by the conductor of the AMTS bus she had travelled in. But she felt helpless as she had no idea how to register a complaint against him.
» Vadaj resident Kapil Shah, 27, was late to office on Tuesday. He kept waiting for a bus. One did arrive, but failed to halt at his stop. After unsuccessfully waiting for another 20 minutes, Kapil walked to a rickshaw stand and hired an auto.
» Shivangi Bhatt, a 19-year-old from Maninagar, frequently goes to Commerce Six Roads by bus. Most of the times, she ends up fighting with the driver for stopping the vehicle a few metres away from the bus stand.
Misbehaving drivers, cheating conductors or buses that do not arrive on schedule are not a surprise to passengers of AMTS buses. Now, Amdavadis no longer need to suffer in silence. To answer passengers’ woes as well as make its employees and contractors more accountable, Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service has made a toll-free number public. Your grievances can be registered at 1800-2330881.
The numbers will soon be displayed on every bus running on AMTS routes. “This number is connected to the main workshop in Jamalpur. An AMTS employee will note down the complaint and forward it to officials at assistant-manager level. They will attend to the problems at the earliest,” said an official.
“The complainants will have to give their contact number and details so that the officials can call back and verify the nature of the complaints and other necessary details,” he added.
Drivers resort to Violence
With AMTS bus contractors being paid per kilometre per bus that ply on the road, the quality of service has gone to pot. Frequent complaints of drivers skipping bus stands and even resorting to violence are common.
Last Thursday, a woman and her son were beaten up by an AMTS bus driver and his associates in Lal Darwaza. According to a complaint filed against driver Dilawar, Dhaval Patel and his mother Pushpaben, residents of Gheekanta, were waiting at the Mirzapur bus stand. At 2.30 pm, they saw bus no. 65/3 (which plies from Nigam Society to Santej) arrive. They tried to flag the bus but the driver did not slow down. Dhaval sat down on the road, forcing the driver to stop the vehicle. Both boarded the bus. Driver Dilawar took the bus to the main AMTS depot in Lal Darwaza and beat up Dhaval and his mother Pushpa with the help of his associates. The driver was employed by ABR (Adinath Bulk Carrier) which is operated by Shahpur councillor Kaushik Jain.
Surendra Bakshi, leader of opposition in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation had then said, “There are several complaints about AMTS’ private operators, but the authorities are not concerned. They only want to earn money and are not bothered about the people.”
A couple of weeks ago, another driver belonging to ABR had beaten up Congress MLA Shabir Kabliwala on March 7. Congress which is an opposition party in AMC demanded that the contractor be blacklisted and a police complaint filed against him.
Prateek Mehta, a Thaltej resident who catches a bus to reach his office on C G Road, says, “The drivers are not concerned about skipping bus stands. These men are paid a fixed amount per kilometre every day, even if the bus is running empty.”
A billing scam worth Rs 28.98 lakh took AMTS by storm in April after senior corporation officials suspected the connivance of the audit office which passed and paid the same bill twice. According to the sources in AMTS, a bill of Rs 28.98 lakh submitted by three private operators for January was paid in February. In March, the same bill was produced in the accounts office and the amount paid without any questioning. On Wednesday, a senior official from the accounts department found the mistake and brought it to the notice of the deputy municipal commissioner who issued show cause notice to at least eight AMTS officials of the rank of assistant manager.
Holding staff accountable
Deputy Municipal Commissioner Arjav Shah, who is also AMTS transport manager, did not name the officials but confirmed that eight officials had been issued show-cause notice and a vigilance inquiry ordered.
About the toll-free number, he said, “The number already existed but it had not been made public. We recently decided to display the number on all our vehicles so that passengers can report their grievances. For this, we got 1,200 white stickers which display the number in blue, and have started pasting it on the buses. We have ensured that the number is readable to commuters when the bus is stationary.”
Shah said, “This will make the system more transparent. It will be easier to make employees and contractors more accountable. Once the complaints will be reviewed by assistant manager (administration). If the complaint is related to a traffic offence, including the vehicle not stopping at the designated spot at bus stands, it will be directed to the traffic director and respected department head. They will then update me on how many complaints have been addressed.”
