ANJUNA: Chandan and Kavita Betkar, the husband-wife duo from Zorwaddo Anjuna, have been operating their bus on the Assagao route for the last six years. While Kavita is the bus-conductor, Chandan has been a driver from his twenties, operating vehicles and buses owned by others to earn his livelihood. Tulshidas Betkar, Chandan’s
father, spent almost
30 years working as a driver for the KTC, and in a way, one can say driving is in his blood.
Chandan was not keen to join the KTC upon his father’s retirement, as he had a very bad impression of KTC. He felt that a sincere worker can never flourish in KTC due to a lot of pilferage and corruption. Kavita, on the other hand, tried her level best to secure
a job as a primary school teacher, but unfortunately, in the absence of any
Godfather, she could not bag a government job.
After struggling hard and trying their hand at various odd jobs to make ends meet for 15 years after their marriage, the Betkar couple finally managed to take a private passenger bus on lease and operate it.
Leaving their three school-going children under the care of Chandan’s parents, the couple is out on a 12-hour duty everyday.
Chandan says that dishonest practices of bus crew, abusive language, lack of discipline, rough behaviour with passengers, and negligent and reckless driving by bus drivers have earned a bad name for the system. He feels that there is no need for a union or an association to support you if you are on the right track. “The bus operators must ensure discipline among their staff and cordial behaviour with passengers. It is not an easy affair for my wife to be a conductor, as many times the migrant passengers are abusive. But we treat all passengers gently, and no abusive or rough tone is used against anyone,” he says.
The couple and their family went through a severe crisis during the one and a half years that their bus was off the roads due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and they had no means of income except from some odd jobs which would at least earn them two meals a day.
“Now, even the transport department officers admire and respect us, as we are firm about following traffic rules and are disciplined in wearing a uniform, being punctual, being polite, and being regular in our service. As we have taken this bus on lease, we have still not started issuing tickets, although we are open to that also. We are also in the process of applying for a conductor badge,” says Chandan, who candidly admits that he is yet to tighten the noose on overloading his bus during busy hours.
Kavita feels that today women have come to the forefront in every sector and no woman must hesitate or feel shy to work. In a male-dominated sector, Kavita is proud to establish herself and points out that she is straightforward and bold and at the same time polite and compassionate with her passengers.
