The crackdown on unsafe commercial vehicles by judicial officers in Rajasthan, with a particular focus on passenger buses, is a welcome move that needs to be replicated across the country. Fiery crashes involving sleeper buses in the state have claimed several lives, the recent instances being in Phalodi and Dausa. This has led to judicial intervention, but it will take sustained action to bring about full compliance with safety norms. Road safety horrors involving buses, which have made India one of the most unsafe countries for travellers, are increasingly attracting judicial action.
After a van rammed into a parked trailer in Phalodi, killing 15 people, last November, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance in April and issued far-reaching directives. These include a ban on haphazard parking along highways, constitution of district highway safety patrols, demolition of encroachments, creation of a toll-free complaints line to report encroachments, and removal of black spots, besides the provision for adequate ambulances and medical facilities.
The court also laid down collective and individual liability for implementing agencies. That it took yet another horrendous bus crash in Dausa and direct judicial intervention to curb law-breakers is a telling commentary on the seriousness with which government departments act on road safety. While the constitutional courts have been underscoring the primacy of the right to life and freedom of movement under Article 21 and 19 in relation to road safety, state governments have responded to the crisis mostly with cynical unconcern. This is untenable and warrants a strong reprimand to enforce accountability.
Travel across long distances by bus on risky highways has become inevitable in a populous India due to regression in real train capacity. Thousands of migrant workers from eastern and northeastern states, and even Nepal, travel to southern cities by bus because rail travel is not feasible. Just-in-time ticketing for travel by overnight luxury buses is attractive to young professionals, who cannot hope to get a seat in overflowing trains.
This travel pattern makes it imperative that the union government and states pursue a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal modification of bus designs to accommodate more seats or cargo. In the Rajasthan inspections, it was revealed that emergency exits were blocked by illegally installed sleeper berths. Such a cavalier attitude to safety is no different from the infamous Uphaar cinema fire tragedy in Delhi, where extra seats blocking exits prevented victims from fleeing to safety. In all such instances, the survivors and families find themselves facing a long and traumatic legal process, with no certainty of adequate justice.
Road accident compensation is paltry and often hard to get. Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari has spoken of stricter safety norms and inspections to certify sleeper buses, but, as he has himself noted in another context, transport bureaucracies are notoriously corrupt. It will take determined consumer action, aided by the courts, to make travel predictably safe.
