The gruesome accident which took the lives of eight of a family on Friday, points fingers at the Motor Vehicles Department and politicians, apart from the bus driver.
The bus, ATA, involved in the accident, was plying on the Kozhikode-Tirur route with a permit that should have been terminated years ago. The district is infamous for having the largest number of accidents in the state and is yet to learn ways to reduce the number.
The district has prepared several plans to bring down the accidents in the district, including the recent efforts after the Pookkiparambu accident which occurred on March 11, 2001, charring 41 persons. During the drive, terms like speed governors, emergency doors, rescue operations, etc were mentioned by the officials. But the effort died down within a short span of time.
The district is still witnessing hundreds of deaths every year. The officials were again seen repeating the terms when actor Jagathy Sreekumar was seriously injured in an accident last year near Calicut University. The discussions and action plans yet again came into effect in the district, but slowed down as usual.
The bus, ATA, had met with several accidents in the area and has a bad reputation, including speeding and unwillingness to obey traffic rules. But the bus continues to ply along the route overcoming the pressure from the Traffic Department. The Regional Transport Office has also failed to revoke the special permit given to it.
“We have started efforts to terminate the permit of the bus. Political clout and support from the bus operators associations had made it impossible to take such a decision. One of the bus employees had given a Vigilance complaint against one of the MVD officials to pressurise the department from taking action against the bus. The law should be blamed for the Tanur accident,” M V Narayananunni, retired Motor Vehicle Inspector, told Express. Political leaders, especially IUML leaders, also have a crucial role in the rising number of accidents in the district.
Malappuram is infamous for recommendations from political leaders in traffic rule violation cases. Most here would use their intimacy with political leaders when they are caught by police or MVD in traffic cases.