The cruiser that met with an accident, in which nine people were killed and 14 people injured, in Tumakuru on Thursday was overloaded like most of these private passenger vehicles — the preferred option of migrant labourers making the arduous trip to Bengaluru in search of jobs.
While it had a capacity to accommodate 12 persons, the vehicle had 24 people, including two sleeping on its roof. Not only that, the cruiser had large loads of foodgrains as luggage.
Farmer leader Chamarasa Malipatil said most of the farm labourers migrate to Bengaluru as they are paid in the range of ₹200 to ₹300 a day in their villages, ₹271 under the MGNREGA, but are paid in the range of ₹400 to ₹600 in Bengaluru. He said most of them prefer private cruisers over State road transport buses as these private vehicles transport them and the foodgrains they carry to Bengaluru from their homes to their specific destination in the city, a service that buses do not provide.
Ganesha A., son of Nagamma, 55, who suffered severe injuries in the accident, said while the bus ticket may be cheaper than what the cruisers charge, it still worked out cheaper as they took the foodgrains, picked them up at their house, and dropped them at the specific destination.
However, to make it economical, most private operators overload their vehicles, making the journey dangerous most of the time. “If there are more people, you can bargain and the ride on private vehicles works out cheaper than the State road transport buses. That is also one of the reasons why people prefer private vehicles,” Mr. Malipatil said.
