India News | Transport Minister Discusses with Bus Operators Measures to Clamp Down on Rash Driving
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The West Bengal government on Thursday asked bus operators to do everything possible to curb rash driving and suggested setting up a real-time communication network with drivers in stage carriages for monitoring speed.
Kolkata, Nov 14 (PTI) The West Bengal government on Thursday asked bus operators to do everything possible to curb rash driving and suggested setting up a real-time communication network with drivers in stage carriages for monitoring speed.
A meeting was held between the two sides two days after the death of a child because of racing of two buses, triggering mob outrage in Kolkata.
State Transport Minister Snehasis Chakraborty told PTI that at the meeting, it was decided to earmark certain points which would be marked 'dangerous' from the safety point of view of pedestrians, motorists and passengers across the state.
"Senior transport and police officials are at work to devise a seamless network which can ensure communication between every bus driver on real-time basis when he is on road so that his movement can be monitored and quick action taken in the event of any untoward incident. The nitty gritty and workings of such connectivity will be devised by the officials and IT experts," he said.
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The meeting was attended by different bus owners' associations, heads of state transport undertakings, police and senior transport officials.
"We have told the operators that in case of death of any person in a bus accident, murder charges will be slapped against the errant driver," he said.
Chakraborty said the private bus owners have also been asked to do away with the commission system to minimise rash driving.
Under this system, a driver is lured to overtake another vehicle plying on the same route for monetary incentives by getting more passengers than the other.
The bus which runs late beyond the scheduled time is also fined, a member of the West Bengal Bus and Minibus Owners Association said.
"Whatever the reason or compelling factor, we hear a lot of complaints from various quarters about the commission system and how it is reported to be one of the root causes behind the rash driving by drivers. We have to eliminate all the factors responsible for dangerous driving - speeding and violation of lanes," he said.
Joint Council of Bus Syndicate General Secretary Tapan Banerjee said the state government should not ignore the ground realities like encroachment of pavement by hawkers, the clogging of roads by autorickshaws and other slow-moving vehicles and the menace of jaywalkers.
He said that these issues were raised during the meeting.
"We understand the road space is only six per cent in the city. But apart from disciplining bus drivers, scooterists should be prosecuted for not wearing helmets and the three-wheelers should be regulated. Only buses should not be singled out for accidents," Banerjee said.
After the November 12 accident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed the transport minister to convene an urgent meeting with bus operators and other stakeholders.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)