Kochi police receive details of fewer than a quarter of private bus staff
Kochi police had received personal details from 474 private bus drivers and conductors by the September 24 deadline, against an estimated workforce of about 2,000. The verification drive is intended to address repeated reports of unruly behaviour and precede the issuing of police identification cards.
Nearly two-thirds of Kochi’s private bus employees had not submitted their personal details for police verification by the initial September 24 deadline, according to senior police officers. The police had received information from 474 drivers and conductors by Thursday, while the city’s private bus workforce is estimated at about 2,000 people. The details were submitted through forms distributed by bus operators’ associations to employees.
A senior officer said the police would continue accepting forms in the coming days and had begun checking the information already collected. The verification drive was launched as part of efforts to find a lasting response to repeated incidents of alleged violent and unruly behaviour by some private bus workers. Once verification is completed, eligible employees are expected to receive police-issued identification cards.
The plan was developed by Kochi City District Police Chief Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar in consultation with stakeholders in the sector. Police had initially hoped to complete the process by the end of September, but the delay in receiving the remaining details has made that timetable uncertain. The forms are being processed through the Traffic East and West police stations within Kochi City limits.
K.B. Suneer, president of the Ernakulam Private Bus Operators Association, said there had been no deliberate delay by operators or workers. He said most had cooperated, adding that some employees who believed they might not qualify for police clearance could have declined to submit their details.
Suneer said operators would in future employ only workers holding police-issued identification cards, while also warning of workforce shortages in the sector. A conductor with 25 years of experience said he and colleagues had submitted their forms and complained that the actions of a few workers had damaged the reputation of the wider workforce. The verification drive began amid continuing incidents.
On Friday, Ernakulam Central police booked a bus driver for allegedly hitting a car in an act of road rage.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.