Mangaluru : The Mangaluru City Traffic Police have booked 60 cases against bus operators in the last one month for keeping the spare wheel of their vehicles inside the bus thereby inconveniencing passengers.

Stating this at a monthly meeting to hear grievances from people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes within the Mangaluru City Police Commissionerate limits here on Sunday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Uday M. Nayak also said that 23 cases were booked for playing music inside the bus and another 17 cases were booked against private operators for violating bus permit conditions.

Kishore Padukodi had complained about various irregularities in the operation of private buses and had urged the police to initiate action in the last meeting.

Responding to the issue miscreants picking pockets and the presence of people belonging to the third gender at the State Bank service bus stand, Mangaluru South Police Inspector Dinakar Shetty said that the police have strengthened patrol in the area and nuisances have considerably come down. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K.M. Shantharaju, who presided over the meeting, asked the police to increase patrolling between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. He also advised the general public to call the police control room immediately after which patrol vehicles would arrive at the spot at any time.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shantharaju said that the personnel have been visiting various educational institutions and participating in camps to create awareness about road safety among students. Over 65 such meetings were conducted by the North Division Police, he said, responding to suggestions made by Raghuveer in the earlier meeting.

Responding to Lingappa Nanthoor’s suggestion to deploy traffic police personnel at the Padua School Junction on National Highway 66, which has many educational institutions, Mr. Shantharaju asked the traffic police to deploy personnel during school timings at the location.