Chennai police set to curb ‘route thala’ clashes in buses – The Hindu

With colleges all set to reopen for final year undergraduate students and medical students on Monday, the city police is gearing up to control the ‘route thala’ (route leader) clashes in buses that often spills over on to the roads, causing inconvenience to the public.

City Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal has asked his officers to identify sensitive routes and take necessary action.

Apart from deploying uniformed personnel in the buses, the police have collected a list of students involved in such incidents earlier, and will be holding a meeting with them and their parents on Sunday to warn them.

The ‘route thala’ culture in city colleges has been identified as the chief cause of gang rivalries among students, which escalates into street fights and triggers fear among people.

“There have been instances when rival route groups have attacked each other with weapons. The public are also affected due to the clash between student groups. Besides, the students bang hard on the buses and sing songs loudly causing inconvenience to the commuters,” said a police officer.

However, police found that most often the ‘route thalas’ are not students. They are either alumni of a particular college or some anti-social element. “We have now invited college students, who were earlier picked up by the police for being part of such gangs, for a meeting. We will be asking them not to indulge in such acts henceforth. Their parents have also been asked to come so that they keep a tab on their children,” said V. Balakrishnan, Joint Commissioner of Police, North Zone.

He said that the colleges had also been asked to keep track of their students. “We will be deploying uniformed personnel in sensitive bus routes to monitor the students,” he added.

The police have advised students to focus on their studies instead of wasting their valuable time and causing inconvenience to the public.