Every day begins and ends with a new nightmare for college girls and working women who step into an MTC bus as the taunts and whistles from young college going men who use the bus route haunt them.

With the police cracking down on male students who create trouble on MTC buses owing to route politics, the faction that is highly affected because of this is the innocent public, especially women who travel in the buses. The footboard Romeos shriek loudly when a woman alights from a bus or break into a song all of a sudden to grab attention.

The recent incidents of students belonging to Presidency College and Nandanam Arts College indulging in group clashes have put a question mark on the safety of ordinary passengers. When it comes to women who travel in MTC buses along these routes, the risks have doubled as they are forced into a state of helplessness and are unable to question the atrocious behaviour inside a public transport system.

“It is not that we are scared of raising our voices against them. In such cases, the men are so violent and reckless that we literally shudder when we think of the consequences,” said Divya Rathinavel, an advertising professional who travels by MTC buses every day.

She points out that every journey progresses with a terrible sense of foreboding for her as the moves of these hooligans in the bus are unpredictable.

“Even if you threaten to call the cops, all you can get from them is a smug smile as these students seem well-connected in political circles,” says Ms Kaviya Venugopal, a media professional who travels by 29C to reach her office in Nungambakkam.

The students often stand on the roof of the bus and dance to their own tunes and also harass women on the roads. “Even women on two-wheelers are not spared as they pass lewd comments at us when we are at a signal or behind the bus on our bikes. This is typical mob mentality and these boys turn heroes only when they are in large groups,” laments Ranjini Thomas, a housewife.

Do away with college union polls: Alumnus

Clashes that have become a regular affair among the city college students, particularly during college union elections, have caused concern among an alumni association which has called upon the administration to rethink the policy of holding open elections to college union.

“Those days, we were not allowed to campaign during class hours,” recalls M. Roosevelt, general secretary of Presidency College Alumni Association, who was elected student union president in 1967.

“The issue is not disciplining students alone. Even the teaching faculty should be reined in,” he says, and adds that the teaching faculty should be made accountable and made to take classes.

The first Indian college in Madras - Pachaiyappa’s College – rang the curtains down on union elections 16 years ago.

Student spirit spills on to the city roads

The clash of college students inside a bus in Perambur depot on Monday morning that left two injured is not an isolated incident. Last week, the police seized weapons from students in Presidency College on Kamarajar Salai, despite which there was a clash between students, two of whom suffered stab injuries inside the college campus.

Of late, the campus scene in the city has been boiling over with incidents of the spirit of youth spilling over into the public domain affecting the public in general and the staff who man city buses in particular.

Several instances of misbehavior in buses are not reported, especially as such incidents are countless at times of college union elections, which usually take place in the first term.

Arts college students even fight over bus routes while in the Dr Ambedkar Law College most clashes are caste-based. The city police are forced to deploy a good number of policemen in front of Pachaiyappa’s College on a daily basis because the campus is considered volatile.

“Disciplining such brats is not entirely in our hands. The college administration and parents of the students should play a more serious role in the process,” said a senior police official who had been closely watching the behaviour pattern of students of a particular college in the city.

“Not that everybody is into violence. There is a group of boys that reaches college on time and attends classes. But the other group, mainly from poor families, reaches college around 11 am and starts drinking and playing cards,” the official noted.

“When we went to arrest a college student at his house, we found that his father, an autorickshaw driver, was sending his son to college though he did not have money even to repair his vehicle,” the police officer recalled.

While students blame the college administration, saying that there are no regular classes even if they went on time, the management declared that every time there is a shortage of lecturers they arrange for guest lecturers.

Bullies also bother MTC crew members

Students travelling atop an MTC bus or precariously clinging to its windows are not uncommon in the city. Besides troubling the passengers by showing off their dancing skills they also exhibit their vocal ‘talent’, and ‘drumming’ skill by banging the buses.

Driving through a few routes that boast a few ‘notorious’ colleges has turned out to be a nightmarish experience for MTC drivers and travelling has become a horrendous experience for commuters.

According to an MTC staff, drivers dread driving on a few routes fearing the nuisance created by a set of students. For instance, drivers and conductors at Vadapalani bus depot invariably try to avoid the 9.20 am service of bus route number 15F to avoid problems caused by a few miscreants who travel regularly. Drivers are nervous when they take the wheel of routes like 159, 59, B18, 51H, 37J, 17M, M27, 12G, 25G, 27H, 56, 5A - the list is actually endless, he says.

“At times, our BP soars because of the atrocious behaviour of a few students who don’t care about other passengers who are like their parents or sisters,” says a senior MTC driver.

MTC bus crew allege that students prefer to board only crowded buses: “They intentionally avoid buses with automated doors and want board only crowded buses so they can travel on footboards. By this, the drivers’ view gets blocked, adding to their stress levels,” laments a driver from Tondiarpet depot.

Besides, they also irritate the commuters by their impolite behaviour when they indulge in activities like singing loudly and banging the buses.

“Due to the noise, drivers get distracted and can’t even hear the voice of a passenger in trouble or be able to stop when someone falls,” says a conductor.

Government urged to ensure fair elections

Students and faculty have urged the state government to conduct students’ election in a democratic way to help curb the ongoing students’ unrest in the city.

Prof K.G. Palani, associate professor of chemistry at Dr Ambedkar Government Arts College, Vyasarpadi, and former president of Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers’ Association (TNGCTA), said students’ election had turned out to be the main reason for the unrest in colleges, especially in a few government arts and science colleges.

“In the past, the state government had framed rules for students election and even declared the dates,” he recalled.

R. Stalin, a Ph.D. student at University of Madras and state vice-president of Students’ Federation of India, feels that teachers should act as a bridge between the college and students to avoid unrest on the campus. “Most of the government colleges don’t have enough faculty, so it becomes difficult for a student to learn due to which he involves in unnecessary activities like dancing atop buses and fighting with students from other colleges,” he reasoned.

Stalin also blames teachers, saying they do not come to class regularly and student lose interest in education. “Teachers can help the government in the smooth conduct of elections. Look at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi or Pondicherry University elections that take place in a fair and smooth way,” he added.

Dinesh, a student of Presidency College, said students form groups based on their bus routes. They have their own leader and want to show the other gang that they can do anything in buses.