After complaints, police begin verification of private bus staff in Kochi to check criminal antecedents

The police have started scrutinising the personal details of private bus employees in Kochi, Keralam, as part of a special drive to weed out people with criminal antecedents from the public utility sector amid a spate of complaints. The traffic wing of the police has forwarded details of around 100 private bus employees to the district special branch for verification, according to police sources.

The details of the employees are being collected in a special form distributed to bus operators. Details including address, licence number and Aadhaar number have been sought through the form. Bus operators have been instructed to submit the filled-in forms to the respective traffic police stations by September 24. Two photographs of the employees also have to be attached with the forms.

“So far, we have received around 100 forms and they have been forwarded for verification. Once the verification is done, the police will issue separate identity cards to those with a clear history. Once the process is over, only employees with valid identity cards issued by the police will be allowed to work on buses conducting services in the city,” a senior police officer said. He said the details of those recommending an employee to be deployed on a bus will also be verified.

The verification process was initiated based on a decision taken at a meeting convened by District Police Chief (Kochi City) S. Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar with representatives of private bus operators’ associations and employees earlier this month. He had then said that the police were planning to complete the process of issuing ID cards within two weeks.

K.B. Suneer, president, Ernakulam Private Bus Operators Association, said that staff working on around 1,200 buses in the city will undergo the verification. “A few involved in some criminal cases will have to be sent out of the sector following the verification. We have completely supported the police’s efforts to free the sector from criminal elements,” he said.

The police initiated the verification measure following a series of law and order issues involving private bus employees in the city recently.