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Mangaluru: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Friday started issuing free bus passes to endosulfan victims, including Kamala, mother of 15-year-old victim Ashwat, based on smart cards issued by the State government to the victims. The victims and their family members attended the camp organised by the KSRTC at the Primary Health Centre in Kokkada near Dharmasthala in good numbers. “We received clarification from the authorities in Bengaluru and have started accepting smart cards (documents endorsing the claim of the victims) for issuing free bus passes to endosulfan victims,” said Venugopal R., Divisional Controller, KSRTC, Puttur division. Free bus passes is among the facilities that the government has promised the victims. With these passes, endosulfan victims, along with a family member each, can travel in KSRTC’s red-colour buses to reach hospitals for medical treatment. In a recent meeting in Mangaluru, activists had pointed that the KSRTC was not accepting smart cards and that it insisted on medical certificates from victims to issue bus passes. One among those who returned dejected on Wednesday was Kamala. She had been asked by the KSRTC officials to go to the Kokkada Primary Health Centre along with her son Ashwat, who is bedridden, to get the free bus pass. On Friday, a good number of victims turned up for the camp that included a few who had difficulty in walking and sittManing. Meanwhile, activist and endosulfan victim Sridhar Gowda said, “I saw officials sending some victims away as they had carried only smart cards.” Mr. Sridhar Gowda said that after he confronted KSRTC officials, the Health Department intervened and helped victims get medical certificates from the Primary Health Centre doctor on the basis of their smart cards. Mr. Venugopal, however, denied any such rejections and said that the whole process went on smoothly on Friday. As many as 239 bus passes were issued, including Kamala, who came alone to the camp as her son is admitted to the government hospital in Belthangady for fever. Similar camps will be held in Koila in Puttur taluk and in Bellare of Sullia tuluk on April 16 and April 18, he said.