BENGALURU: Instances of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses claiming lives in road accidents are on the rise. In October alone, BMTC buses were involved in three fatal accidents.
KSRTC Staff and Workers’ Federation Secretary Vijay Bhaskar said accidents are due to multiple reasons. “BMTC drivers are under tremendous work pressure. Drivers have to cover a distance of 1 km in just three minutes. Given the traffic situation in Bengaluru, how can the drivers complete this? For example, in an eight-hour shift, a driver falling under BMTC’s West Division has to cover 138 km in five trips, i.e. he has to cover over 27 km in each trip. Drivers can complete only four trips and can just commence their fifth trip in eight hours. The fifth trip should be treated as ‘overtime’ and the driver be paid for the extra time. However, the BMTC is not considering it.”
According to the Motor Transport Workers Act 1961, which regulates transport workers, the eight-hour duty of a driver starts from the time he takes the bus out of the depot. However, based on their routes, drivers are working nearly 12 hours without any extra pay, Bhaskar said.
He also complained that the bus corporation, citing financial crunch, is not investing in vehicle maintenance.
“Buses are operated round the clock every day throughout the year and spare parts that have worn out and are unfit should be replaced. Instead of procuring new spare parts, the bus corporation is resorting to replacing the required spare part from other buses which are not operated,” he said, urging the bus corporation to revise Form 4, which assigns timings for the routes.
Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told TNIE that the recent accidents involved young BMTC drivers. “Action will taken against them. All the BMTC drivers who are involved in any accident are mandatorily sent for driving training and their increments and other benefits will take a hit.”
Questioned if the route timings will be revised as drivers are complaining of being under tremendous pressure to complete the trips in time, Reddy said measures will be taken so that there is no pressure on them. Both Reddy and Bhaskar said vehicle users, especially two-wheelers, should follow traffic rules and stop blaming BMTC drivers.
Drivers in the red