The Hindu : New Delhi News : Bus operators narrate their tales of woe to Sheila

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Saturday, Jul 14, 2007
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New Delhi

Bus operators narrate their tales of woe to Sheila

Staff Reporter

Assure her that they would operate their full services in a disciplined manner

“Traffic police force us to pay bribes”
Also demand segregation of road space

NEW DELHI: The week-long bus crisis in Delhi appeared headed for a peaceful resolution on Friday with the Blueline bus operators assuring the Delhi Government that they would operate their full services in a disciplined manner so that there are no accidents involving them in future. The operators also complained to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit about the Delhi traffic police forcing them to pay bribes.

During the hour-long meeting with Ms. Dikshit, Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf and Transport Commissioner R. Chandramohan, the operators narrated their grievances.

They charged that the traffic police personnel openly take bribes from them resulting in loss of revenue. Because of this, they said, the drivers are compelled to run more trips to cover the loss. After listening to the allegation, Ms. Dikshit ordered convening of a meeting of the operators with Joint Commissioner (Traffic) of Delhi Police Qamar Ahmed on Monday.

The office-bearers of the Federation of Delhi Bus Operations said they were keen to ply their buses in proper lanes and would adhere to the lane system. But for this they said it was also essential that the lanes were marked on the roads.

Since around 50 per cent of the fatal accidents involve pedestrians, the operators also demanded segregation of road space. At this, Ms. Dikshit instructed officers of the Transport Department to coordinate with traffic police to clearly mark out the bus lanes and zebra crossings. .

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