Ratia: December 27:  Following complaints of harassment of disabled persons by private bus operators, a delegation from the Haryana Disability Rights Forum and private bus owners were called to the RTO office in Fatehabad for discussions. After considerable deliberation, an agreement was reached between both parties.
District President Surendra Kumar, giving this information, said that the district committee of the Haryana Disability Rights Forum had issued a complaint letter last month to the Deputy Commissioner of Fatehabad and the Chief Minister's Office in Chandigarh regarding private bus operators harassing disabled persons with abusive language, charging them for tickets despite having 100% disability certificates and bus passes, and forcing them off the buses.
Taking cognizance of this, the RTA office in Fatehabad called the members of the forum and the district president of the Private Cooperative Transport Committee, Ramphal Singh, and bus owner Surendra Kumar on Friday to discuss and resolve the problem. The president of the Private Cooperative Transport Committee, Ramphal Singh, assured the forum members that in the future, no disabled person or senior citizen would be mistreated on private buses, and bus pass holders with disabilities would not be charged for tickets.
District President Ramphal Singh also provided the forum members with his phone number, asking them to inform the private cooperative society if any disabled person faces any problems on a private bus in the future, so that the problem can be resolved immediately. Also present on the occasion were District Joint Secretary Karamjit Singh Padam, Ratia Block President Tek Chand, Block Secretary Papal Kumar, and bus owner Surendra Kumar.