Though private bus operators have always been on the radar for their reckless driving, it is their greediness to earn a few bucks by taking customers en route without enrolling their names into the list of passengers, that has created a major hurdle in identifying those who died in Wednesday’s bus tragedy in Andhra Pradesh.
Most surprisingly, the government rules, according to officials here, say that vehicles with all-India permit need not be fixed with any speed limit.
Though seating capacity of the volvo tourist bus is only 43+2, five extra passengers were boarded in the bus en route Hyderabad violating the stipulated norms.
Moreover, the bus which carried a Andhra Pradesh registration number has been on the rolls of RTO Bengaluru since Ocotber 2011. According to officials, though the no objection certificate (NOC) issued by AP has been utilised, the registration number had not been changed yet.
“After the bus is registered in Karnataka, the operator would be given the time to re-register themselves and then pay state tax and take all-India permit,” said P Srinivas, additional transport commissioner, RTA-Khairatabad clearly meaning that rules were flouted in the process.
A document handed over by the transport department, Khairtabad, stated that the bus bearing registration number AP-02-TA-0963 owned by Diwakar Road Lines represented by J C Umareddy from Anantapur said to be on lease with Shakeel Ahmed of Jabbar Travels, Bengaluru.
Against allegations that volvo multi-axle buses race against time at an average speed of 120-130 kmph, officials here reveal that state government was considering installing speed governors on all transport vehicles. “The RTA had planned to install speed governors for all transport vehicles.
But, according to the Central Government rules, vehicles with all-India permit need not be fixed with any speed limit .
The Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Transport department have written to the Centre to consider the issue of speed limit as that might lead to accidents in the future too,” said the additional transport commissioner.
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