Tamil Nadu loses Rs 4 lakh a day as 520 buses lie idle, unable to pay accident relief
Nearly 520 buses owned by state transport corporations (STCs) are lying idle at different locations, as they have all been impounded by courts for having failed to pay compensation to road accident victims. This has resulted in an operational loss of Rs 4 lakh a day for the corporations.
In the past six years since 2010, more than 40,000 road accidents involving state-owned buses were reported in TN, killing a total of 9,971people.
Due to court orders on motor accident claims proceedings, the transport managements owed Rs 200 crore to relatives of road accident victims, according to government records accessed by TOI.
Additional chief secretary to government PWC Davidar said they had paid Rs 90.55 crore to transport managements, out of the total pending Rs 292 crore. Acknowledging the gravity of the situation, additional chief secretary to government PWC Davidar said they had paid Rs 90.55 crore to transport managements, out of the total pending amount of `292 crore.Government was in the process of clearing the remaining dues soon, he added.
Interestingly, none of the 22,000odd buses owned by STUs (except AC buses) have insurance policy to cover third party risks, said accident cases specialist and advocate V S Suresh.”Karnataka has proper insurance for all its state-run buses,” he said, adding that at least sums ranging from Rs 5 to 10 could be collected from passengers using long distance services, just as some private buses do.
An investigating officer (accident claim section) with government-owned United India Insurance Company Limited, however, said paying the annual premium of `30,000-40,000 could be a challenge to cash-strapped STUs in Tamil Nadu. Also, accident claims would be released by insurance firms only if norms pertaining to seating capacity are met. “In most cases, state-owned buses are found overloaded at the time of the accident.”
The buses impounded by courts for defaulting payment of compensation were initially parked in the respective court premises. “As spare parts of these vehicles were stolen during the nights, the vehicles were later shifted to nearby STU depots where they are now rotting,” said K Arumugam Nainar of the CITU.
“The state government has not been able to meet the increase in passenger demand, as they have not added augment the number of new buses.Under the circumstances, buses getting impounded have worsened the situation,” said K Anbazhgan of Nethaji Transport Union. Transport managements, including Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), have begun to stop services on routes where the daily ticket collection was rated low, he said.
The plight of relatives of accident victims too keeps mounting every passing year. Besides running from pillar to post, they are made to fight legal battles at their own expenses to win a compensation they deserve.
In order to overcome this hiccup, the state government setup a corpus fund for speedy and out-of-court settlements. Accordingly, Rs 70 crore was released for years 2010-17. But, since the incidence of road accidents involving state-run buses are very high, the fund sanctioned by the state transport department would never be sufficient, say experts.
