Overloaded vehicles lead to ghastly accidents

Visakhapatnam: The ghastly accident involving the Force Motors Toofan jeep in which 22 persons belonging to one family were killed at Dowleswaram barrage near Rajahmundry has triggered fresh concerns over the safety of passengers in cabs and autorickshaws in Vizag region.

Traffic cops and RTA officials have turned a blind eye to the the overcrowded vehicles, plying from Vizag to Vizianaga-ram, Srikakulam and Anakapalle. Overcrowded jeeps and vans plying on the dangerous ghat road is a common sight in Vizag Agency.

Lack of proper public transportation in Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts is forcing people to depend on either overcrowded vehicles like jeeps or poorly maintained private vehicles.

Sources said that there are about 40,000 autos and over 600 jeeps plying on the roads in the region. Most of them have been plying with passengers tightly packed in them.

A driver of a maxi cab said that RTC buses never come on time and some passengers, who are in a hurry, travel in the jeeps. “We ask commuters to squeeze into the little place as we have to take some money home after paying to the traffic cops and RTA officials,” he revealed.

Despite the series of accidents due to the overcrowded vehicles, police and transport officials do not take action against the erring transport operators as they receive monthly mamools from them, said G.  Srinivas, an employee in Viziana-garam, who commutes between Vizag and  Vizianagaram regularly.

ADCP (traffic) K. Mahendra Patrudu and deputy transport commissioner, Vizag, G. Krish-naiah said they had been registering cases against  overcrowded jeeps, autos.

However, the vehicle operators continue to flout the norms. Most of the vehicles are fit to carry passengers but accidents occur when they are overcrowded, they added.


Vehicle operators claim that though they earn something between Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 a month  and that 30 pc of that goes as bribe to the traffic cops and RTA officials. “As we have to earn to pay the kickbacks also, we allow more and more number of passengers to board our vehicles,” said an auto driver.