KOCHI: With the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) failing to ensure that private buses fix and use passenger doors, District Collector S Suhas took matters into his own hands on Tuesday.
Suhas led a surprise inspection for initiating action against private buses for not complying with the High Court directive in this regard. The MVD team led by Suhas, Regional Transport Officer (RTO)-Enforcement G Ananthakrishnan and Ernakulam RTO K Manojkumar conducted the inspection at NGO Quarters around 4pm. Six drivers were issued show-cause notices for non-compliance.
“Only show-cause notices were served on the erring drivers. They will be charged under IPC Section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) if they commit the violation again. We will not spare any private bus that is found violating safety norms. The inspections will continue,” Suhas said, adding that the permit of the erring buses will be cancelled.
“The district police chief and the RTOs have been directed to take stringent action against such bus crew. People’s safety is of utmost importance and the district administration will go to any lengths to ensure it,” he said.
The inspection comes two days after Aliyamma, 85, a native of Paingottur near Kothamangalam, died immediately after falling off a moving bus that kept its pneumatic door open. In a report titled ‘Officials take foot off pedal; buses keep doors open’ published on February 18, TNIE had reported MVD’s apathy in taking action against bus operators .
News travelled fast!
The inspection also revealed how the crew of various buses work together to escape action. “We were able to detect four violations within a few minutes of starting the inspection. However, it took us nearly 30 minutes to detect the remaining two violations. This shows that crew of the buses alerted others about the inspection, much like people informing two-wheeler riders of a helmet inspection,”said an MVD officer.