Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Death of two bus passengers in an accident that took place at Bherughat on Sunday, has broken the slumber of transport department officials who hit the streets again on Monday to check errant vehicles.
According to Regional Transport Officer Pradeep Sharma, a team of RTO and divisional flying squad launched a special checking campaign at Khandwa Road to check the passenger buses.
“Over 50 buses were checked during the drive against passenger buses at Khandwa Road on Monday. We have checked the buses against permit, insurance, PUC certificate, overloading, over speeding, pressure horn, and others,” the RTO said adding “A fine of Rs 37500 was slapped on as many as 16 buses for violation of norms of Motor Vehicle Act.”
He said that the drive will continue and they will also start random checking on the buses across the city to prevent mishaps.
Buses timing increased, no new permit issued
Taking action over the claims of high frequency of buses at Khandwa Road, the RTO claimed that they have increased the timing of buses on the route and didn’t issue any new temporary permit on the route.
“Earlier, the timing of buses to reach Khandwa was three- and-half hours but we have increased it to four-and-a-half hours so that the frequency of buses has decreased,” he added.
Five mishaps in last eight months
June 23, 2022: A speeding bus rammed a truck and fell into a culvert. Eight passengers were dead in the incident
June 25, 2022: A bus fell into a culvert while overtaking another bus near Baigram. Around 20 passengers were injured in the incident 3 December 15, 2022: Two buses collided with each other near Simrol. One passenger died, 20 injured
January 15, 2023: A speeding bus fell into a ditch near Baghphal in which two passengers died and over 24 were injured
March 5, 2023: Bus overturns at Bherughat. Two died, 37 injured.
