Meeting held with private bus operators to reinforce safety norms

The Transport Department, in the aftermath of the October 24 Kurnool bus tragedy, convened a meeting with private transport operators to emphasise the need for compliance and to maintain safety standards to avoid road accidents.

Transport Commissioner Vikas Raj chaired the meeting with representatives of private bus operator associations. He urged them to take steps to prevent road accidents.

Discussion over fire detection and fire control system were also on the agenda. Sources at the Transport Department said the associations assured compliance. They also stated that measures to increase awareness among passengers as regards fire safety precautions would be initiated.

Since the death of 19 passengers aboard the V. Kaveri Travels bus near Kurnool, the Transport Department, in its drive to check compliance since October 25, launched a crackdown and seized as many as nine vehicles. The department also issued 209 vehicle check reports and collected ₹4,94,000 as compounding fee.

The inspections revealed violations that included alleged modifications without authorisation, not having passenger lists on board, carrying commercial goods in passenger vehicles, and not having fire extinguishers on-board buses. Other violations include vehicles not having safety reflective tapes and objects obstructing emergency exits.

The department also seized vehicles for allegedly having converted seater buses into sleeper buses.

Sources said the drive will continue so as to curb instances of private bus operators flouting rules, especially those connected to passenger safety.

An inter-State transport commissioners’ meeting involving Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka is also on the anvil. Apart from discussing passenger safety, the meeting is expected to deliberate upon the issue of buses registered in other States, plying the roads on an All India Tourist Permit. According to Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, discussion on how to develop monitoring mechanisms for such buses is on the cards.