Blatant violation of norms by private buses is nothing new. Numerous lives of hapless commuters lost is enough testimony. One glaring omission is the lack of doors.
Years after the state government issued a notification making doors mandatory for buses, including mofussil bus services, private buses continue to operate without doors. Passenger safety has simply been thrown to the winds, with the callousness of bus operators claiming another life the other day.
A 50-year-old man died after he fell from a running bus near Thykoodam on Wednesday. Though the victim, John Dominic of Kundannoor, was rushed to a private hospital, he succumbed to severe head injuries. The victim fell from the bus when he moved to the door to get down at Bund, near Kundannoor. The police confirmed the bus had no door.
“The Motor Vehicles Department has initiated a probe in this regard,” said P H Sadiq Ali, the Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer.
He said the government had issued a notification making doors mandatory for stage carriers operating services in the city and town areas across the state from July 1 2016. Though the bus involved in the incident is not a city service, it is illegal, the RTO said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqNHDAxSjL8
The government had amended the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules to make shutters mandatory for the front and rear doors of buses by removing the exemption for city and town services. Following this, the Transport Department issued a circular mandating doors.
But it was challenged by the bus owners before the Kerala High Court. Kerala State Bus Operators Association state president M B Sathyan said fitting doors is mandatory considering the security of commuters. In a majority of the buses, doors are either removed or tied to the body. This is being done by the door checkers reluctant to do the job. But the association is against this.
