Passenger gets Rs 5000 for no charging point, AC in bus

Jalna: A consumer court in Maharashtra’s Jalna district has ordered a state-run bus depot to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation to a passenger for not providing a mobile charging point and air-conditioning in the bus, despite advertising the facilities.

According to the complainant, Satish Ratanlal Dayama, he along with a friend boarded the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’s ‘Shivshahi’ bus heading to Aurangabad from a depot here on July 12 this year.

As Dayama’s mobile phone battery drained out, he asked the bus conductor to provide him with a charging point in the vehicle.

However, the complainant later found that the charging point and the air-conditioning of the bus were not working.

He then asked the bus conductor and driver to get him the complaint register, but they failed to provide it.

The passenger then filed a complaint with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, seeking compensation for the inconvenience and mental agony faced by him.

Dayama in his complaint said the state transport advertised that the bus had the mobile charging point and AC, and charged the fare accordingly, but both the facilities were found defunct.

After hearing the case, the consumer forum’s president Nilima Sant and members Neeta Kankariya and Manjusha Chitlange last week ordered the bus depot in Jalna to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to the complainant within 30 days.