The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Bus workers feel the heat of police action

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Friday, Feb 06, 2009
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Kerala - Kochi

Bus workers feel the heat of police action

Staff Reporter

Union threatens two-day strike next week

KOCHI: Private bus workers’ unions, feeling the heat after the traffic police cracked the whip by taking stringent action against crew members who cause serious accidents, have begun mounting pressure.

The union owing affiliation to the AITUC has threatened to go on strike on Tuesday and Wednesday next, alleging that the police are victimising ‘innocent’ workers.

Around a dozen workers are lodged in the sub-jail after they were denied bail following a series of major accidents that resulted in a young woman being run over and around 50 people suffering injuries. This was after the police booked them on the charge of attempted murder.

The general secretary of the Private Bus Thozhilali Federation (AITUC), Joy Joseph, said that representatives of all trade unions would hold talks with the City Police Commissioner on Friday. “We are not opposed to action being taken against drivers who cause accidents. But the police have booked even conductors and cleaners.”

Members of the public and road safety experts have welcomed the police action, saying that errant drivers and other workers have for years been holding road users to ransom.

Many of them said the police ought to do much more, considering the flagrant rule violations by many bus workers.

Not only are most private buses driven in an intimidating manner, they also create snarls at bus stops by parking on the middle of the road.

A senior official of the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) said people will lose faith in the police if the force does not initiate stern action against motorists who cause accidents.

“Kerala, which has the highest road accident rate in the country, presents an alarming picture. It is high time the police and the government took sterner action against public and goods transport vehicles which contribute a major share of the fatal accidents.”

The traffic police say that responsibility ought to be fixed for accidents, since members of the public began to have a feeling of helplessness. “Under the Central Motor Vehicles Act, all crew members of a bus are responsible for an accident since they contribute to the driver’s negligence in one way or the other.

Most often, other crew members coerce the driver to drive rashly, with the cleaners banging the bus side and incessantly ringing the bell,” said K.B. Venugopal, Assistant Commissioner of Police (City Traffic).

On bus workers who cause major accidents being sent to jail, he said courts have wide powers to deny bail to those who endanger people’s lives by driving rashly.

The judges too are road users and know well the way in which private buses are driven. The police began invoking strong penal measures after all other attempts to tame the busmen failed. They even tried making the drivers write imposition that they would not drive rashly.

Punching cabins

The launch of more punching cabins has not brought about the desired results since busmen take law into their hands in between the cabins.

They wait for long periods in some busy bus stops and overspeed to make up for the time lost. The buses also add to road rage by their rash driving and non-stop sounding of their polyphonic horns.

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