BENGALURU: Following incidents of frequent accidents of passenger vehicles such as private buses, the state government wants those that are more than 15 years old, not to carry on business. Sources in the transport department said that the government has issued a circular, directing RTO officials not to renew permits of passenger vehicles that are 15 years old. “As there were accidents involving both government and private buses that claimed lives of scores of people, the government does not want a repeat of such mishaps due to unfit passenger vehicles,” an official said.
The circular states there is an increasing number of road accidents due to vehicles that are technically weak, and vehicles that are not fit to ply on roads, as safety of passengers is of paramount importance.“While registering passenger vehicles, officials should ensure that the permit is issued only for 15 years from the date of its registration.
For those passenger vehicles which have already been issued permits, it should mention that ‘this permit shall be deemed to be invalid unless the vehicle is replaced by a later model vehicle’. And for those vehicles which are older than 15 years, permit renewal requisition should be rejected until the vehicle is replaced,” the circular stated.
It may be recalled that more than 30 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed when an 18-year-old private bus fell into the Visvesvaraya canal at Kanaganamaradi village in Mandya district, in November last year. There have been several instances of accidents in which scores of people have died due to bad condition of vehicles.