A year after twin tragedies, pvt buses still not safety-compliant

Operators take it easy as drive by transport dept loses steam

A year after two back-to-back bus fire accidents claimed 52 lives and jolted the Karnataka government into laying down strict safety guidelines in the luxury vehicles, several buses continue to ply without mandatory safety features.

As many as 45 passengers of a luxury bus, travelling from Bangalore to Hyderabad, were charred to death after the vehicle hit the road median on the National Highway near Mahaboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh on October 30, 2013.

Hardly a fortnight later, on November 14, seven persons were killed and 40 injured after a luxury bus they were travelling in hit a median and caught fire near Haveri.
The two successive accidents exposed inadequate safety features in luxury buses.

The State government set a three-month deadline for all the private operators to instal emergency exits in buses. They were asked to play videos on safety measures in the buses - like locating hammers for breaking windowpanes during emergency.

The deadline, however, was extended by three more months at the request of the private operators. In March this year, the Transport department launched a drive against buses that did not have safety measures in place. The buses without safety features were seized and heavily penalised. But, eight months later, the drive seems to have fizzled out and private buses continue to operate on various routes, flouting safety guidelines - even without mandatory emergency exit doors - thus putting the lives of passengers at risk.

Transport Commissioner Ramegowda told Deccan Herald that the department had been keeping a watch on private buses and had suspended permits of some vehicles for not complying with safety guidelines.

“Owing to business rivalry, several private operators have been informing us about buses without safety measures. We will be watching the buses even more closely,” he said.

According to sources, private operators hid their vehicles in workshops as long as the Transport department kept up the pressure through its drive. However, the buses are back in business as soon as the drive lost its steam, an official of the department said.