Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Sunday said he would make necessary changes in the department guidelines to ensure that all buses registered in the State are equipped with emergency exit doors instead of windows. He said the current buses in the State would have to install doors and said Volvo had given a timeframe of three months in which it could finish installing emergency doors for all buses sold by them.
In a press conference, Reddy said, “We called a meeting of all private travel operators and have given them instructions to stick to the guidelines laid out by the transport department. The process of installing emergency windows which must be broken by a hammer came so that space could be made for two more seats. This will go. I have asked the Transport Secretary to immediately amend rules which allow for such emergency exit mechanisms to be installed and from now on doors will be compulsory,” he said.
KSRTC will make the required changes in Volvo buses owned by it at its own workshop while other private bus owners would have to work out the costs with Volvo.
The crackdown by the Minister came days after two horrific bus accidents resulted in the deaths of 53 people in separate incidents. In both cases, the buses caught fire and were burnt completely.
Reddy added that Volvo had volunteered to make a safety video for display onboard its buses before commencement of the journey as well. “In other buses, the driver or conductor will have to explain the exits to the passengers. We have also asked all travel operators to immediately install first aid kits and a separate seat for the extra driver to sleep,” he said.
The government has also decided to stand firm on its April 1 deadline for buses registered in the State to install speed governors limiting the speed of the vehicle to 80 kmph. However, a Central government notification last December exempts vehicles operating on state permit or national permit or all India tourist permit from this rule.
According to Transport department figures, there are 9,000 stage carriage permits and 2,000 contract carriage permits which will be exempted from the rule. However, buses registered with the transport department as omni buses will have to install governors.
Reddy said since October 31, the transport department had checked 7,171 buses and booked 2,851 cases for violation of guidelines. Around 148 buses have been seized and `62 lakh has been collected as fine from them. The department guidelines make it mandatory for drivers to get compulsory rest time after driving for eight hours and also for details of the passengers to be recorded.
However, both rules are commonly flouted by operators and in the Haveri incident, there were many instances of duplication of names in which multiple seats were booked with the same name and contact details.
