Jagtial bus accident: 1,000 working buses are a decade old

Hyderabad: More than 1,000 buses in the department are more than ten years old, admits Principal Secretary, Road Transport Corporation, Sunil Sharma. But, he said, they are regularly maintained and able to achieve fitness certificate, hence they are still on the road.  Some road safety experts and drivers don’t agree. They allege that there are many flaws in the system of attaining fitness certificate. Just before the fitness test, vehicles get new windshields, tyres and headlights etc and after the test the old parts are fitted back on.

This is the norm for government-run buses across the country. Drivers also allege that the spare parts are all of cheap quality. Road safety expert and a researcher, Vinod Kumar claims that more than 80 per cent of buses in the state are not road worthy, though they are manipulated to be seen as such. Many RTC drivers tell of the loopholes and the bad condition of roads but they are under pressure not to speak out. A driver on condition of anonymity said, “Buses are not in good condition and there is a lot of pressure on drivers to meet the target number of passengers and trips. When we try to tell them about the condition of the bus, they retaliate by stopping our service or incentives. In such conditions, it becomes difficult to drive. Even when accidents happen, we have to take the blame despite lack of amenities.”

While old, outdated RTC buses are still in use for the public, putting our lives in danger, vehicles allocated for ministers and bureaucrats are changed every three years.  Netizens have been grousing on twitter about the bad condition of buses and double standards in treating citizens. “In 2015 all the Ministers got new Toyota Fortuners. In 2018 they get the new model Toyota Fortuners. Question is why 3 year old vehicles made by Toyota had to be replaced when all over the world Toyota is trusted for its longevity. But not the RTC buses,” went one tweet.