Surprise drive against errant city buses

GUWAHATI: The Assam transport department on Thursday conducted a surprise enforcement drive in a bid to rein in city buses breaching the Motor Vehicles Act.

A group of senior officials of the transport department led by KK Dwivedi, commissioner and secretary, transport department, along with commissioner, Adil Khan and other department officials took a city bus ride in order to get a first-hand experience of the problems faced by daily commuters.

The basic objective of the bus ride was to check whether the rules of the Act were followed and to understand the inconvenience faced by passengers, an official statement said.

The officials who boarded the bus without disclosing their identities, noticed that buses were flouting rules by plying on routes without permit thereby causing traffic congestion in the city’s arterial routes. They witnessed that the bus conductor was taking fares without issuing tickets to the passengers. Moreover, seats reserved for senior citizens and specially-abled were occupied by other passengers.

The team also found that doors were not closed while the bus was in motion, bus halted beyond the limit of two minutes at stops and the rule of rear door for entry and front door for exit was violated against the safety standards.

Dwivedi took a serious note of it and instructed the department officials to deploy teams to check city buses breaching the Motor Vehicles Act in the city.

“Twenty enforcement teams were deployed in different locations of the city. Forty vehicles were seized and on-the-spot fine of approximately Rs 32,000 was imposed for route violations, not issuing tickets to passengers and keeping the doors open while plying,” informed commissioner, Adil Khan.

Meanwhile, driving licence and permit of the bus on which the officials travelled during the drive were cancelled.

“Such sudden enforcement drives by the transport department will continue in the future and stringent action will be taken for violation of rules,” Dwivedi said.