JOIN USThe fire accident that engulfed Volvo bus for the second time in a fortnight should be a matter of grave concern to all, especially to the travelling public, the government, the bus operators and manufacturers. The death of 52 passengers of the two Volvo buses - at Mahaboobnagar and Haveri - operated by private companies should awaken all concerned at least now to take strong steps to ensure that such tragedies don’t recur.
Both the buses, multi-axle to boot, went up in flames in a matter of minutes raising several questions about the safety issues and the handling of the same by the government and other agencies over the years.
After the first tragedy at Mahboobnagar, the government issued guidelines to travel agencies regarding the safety steps that were needed to be taken. The 12 safety guidelines issued by the Karnataka government barred cargo in the hold, wanted the buses to have emergency exits, speed governors with a speed limit of 65 km per hour, RTOs to inspect fitness of vehicles in a special drive every month and cancelling the certificates of vehicles which are not roadworthy. It may be just about a fortnight since these guidelines were issued but how far are they being implemented? It is shocking to learn that a government order of 2008, making it mandatory for the manufactures to build buses with a middle door for emergency exit was withdrawn, apparently under pressure from them, in 2011. The government has a lot to explain.
It is time now for the state government to immediately initiate short term and long term steps to ensure safety of passenger vehicles. Fifteen days after the first accident, Volvo is yet come out with its report on the reasons for the inferno. It has refused to share details of the progress in its inquiry. The bus major cannot merely keep saying it has no design flaws since thousands of its buses are plying around the world without any complaints.
This will not do. Like the practice of many car companies across the world, the government should immediately ensure that Volvo grounds all the buses, recalls them and rectifies the design flaws, if any. The state should ask the Andhra Pradesh government to hasten its inquiry into the Mahaboobnagar incident, get the report and act on it. It should also have a re-look at the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, as some of its provisions relating to large passenger vehicles need urgent amendments.