The Hindu : Crackdown on rogue buses

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Crackdown on rogue buses

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB.16. Taking a serious note of continuing accidents on the Capital's roads involving private buses, the Delhi Government has decided to tighten the leash on the errant vehicles and their drivers. From now on, any bus involved in two fatal accidents will have its permit cancelled and will not be able to ply on the road again. Similarly, any bus driver found to be involved in two major offences will have his driving licence suspended.

It has also been decided that the owners of rogue buses or the transport companies will also be held responsible for the involvement of their staff or vehicles in any fatal accident or unsavoury incident. The State Transport Department has meanwhile, suspended the permit of the Blueline bus -- and the licence of its driver -- that was involved in a rape case on the Mehrauli-Badarpur road here this past week.

These decisions were taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Delhi's Lieutenant-Governor, Vijai Kapoor, at Raj Nivas on Monday. The Delhi Transport Minister, Haroon Yusuf, along with the State Chief Secretary, Shailja Chandra, and the Transport Secretary-cum-Commissioner, Rajiv Talwar, the Police Commissioner, K.K. Paul, and Joint Commissioner (Traffic), Qmar Ahmed, attended the meeting.

It is learnt that they also took a strong view of the rising number of incidents of road rage involving private bus drivers as also their rash and reckless driving on the roads. It was decided that the owners of such buses should also be taken to task for the involvement of their drivers in any incident and the conductor should also be proceeded against.

Disturbed by the mounting number of fatal accidents involving the Blueline fleet, Mr. Kapoor and Mr. Yusuf are understood to have pressed for strong action against the offenders. It was decided that any bus that is involved in two fatal accidents would not be allowed to ply and its permit would be cancelled permanently. All bus drivers involved in two fatal accidents would have their licences cancelled and would not be allowed to drive until their cases are disposed of by the courts.

Dubbing the unhealthy competition among private buses on the city roads to grab the maximum possible number of passengers as "unethical'' and against the basic norms of any competitive system, the participants at the meeting felt that stringent action was required to be taken urgently to restore discipline on the roads. It was decided to launch a special drive against erring drivers and buses from March 1.

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