Delhi continues to be hit by Blue Line
transportation woes
23 Jul 2007
Public transport system
in the capital continued to suffer, as Blue
Line buses remained off the roads for the third consecutive day.
"Ministers, including Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf should
be pushed into the crowded buses so that they can understand the
problems of the people. For the last three days, we are facing problems.
In spite of being the capital city, I feel it is the worst place,"
said Syed Arshad, one of the harried passengers.
The state transport authorities have only cleared 712 of the 4,500
buses after safety checks.
The State Government had pulled the private buses off the roads
on Saturday, to put a check on increasing cases of accidents, caused
by rash driving. The government plea was that they were being checked
for roadworthiness. On Sunday, the Delhi
Transport Corporation (DTC) pressed into service an additional 1000
buses into its 3,000-strong fleet to augment the shortage caused
by the withdrawal of the private Blue Line buses.
"DTCs should be brought on the streets immediately and the
Blue Line buses should be brought under the DTC," said B. N.
Das, another harried passenger.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had on Friday directed that private
buses would not be allowed to ply for two days, to facilitate mandatory
checks of all private buses.
Earlier this month, a boy was crushed under the wheels of a Blue
Line bus after it crashed into the scooter on which he was riding
with his father, while another boy was killed when he got off a
moving bus and fell beneath its wheels.
Following an outcry in the press, Dikshit said she planned to replace
Blue Line buses with more state-operated vehicles, and authorities
also started enforcing the law governing bus operators with renewed
vigour.
Many Blue Line buses were impounded. But many more operators decided
to simply stay off the roads, thinking it better to lose a few days'
earnings than face stiffer penalties. The result has been dangerous
and maddening chaos.
Blue Line buses killed 59 of the 1,023 people who died on the city's
roads in the first six months of this year.
Police have found a Blue Line bus in serious breach of regulations
and ordered it to stop running on more than 6,000 occasions so far
this year.
Many buses are halted for lacking the mechanical limiter to keep
its speed below the 40 kph (25 mph) limit, for having a driver without
a full licence and government permit, or for ignoring the rules
of the road.
Source: http://www.dailyindia.com/
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