By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The fateful MTC (Meghalaya Transport Corporation) bus (MLO3–0144) which was on its way to Silchar from Shillong went off on a turning and fell into a gorge at Mawlyndep recently was a case of drunken driving.
A passenger who was traveling in the fateful bus said that the driver driving the bus was already tired as he had just arrived from Tura that day and was again given to drive this bus to Silchar.
“The driver even fought with the MTC officers and asked them why he was given to drive the Silchar bus and whether there is any other driver. He even questioned about the allotted bus as he was asking for a deluxe bus but was later given a spare bus which are mainly used for school service in the city,” said the passenger adding that as a result the driver got angry and ran berserk.
Narrating the accident, another passenger Pradip Roy said that the MTC had allotted them an old bus after the passengers waited for one-and-half-hour.
“The bus was scheduled to leave for Silchar at 7pm. At around 8:30pm the MTC allotted an old bus. The driver was drunk right from the beginning and after reaching Sohryngkham the bus stopped for dinner,” he said.
Informing further he said that the bus started from there and after 5/7 minutes it went straight into a gorge. “The bus driver drank more in Sohryngkham and I told the driver right from the beginning to drive slowly as his way of driving the bus was really scaring,” he said.
However, Pradip was lucky as he escaped the accident with a minor injury on his leg and said, “I can’t remember how many times the bus rolled as it went down into the gorge.”
While stating the condition of some passengers beyond repair, he said that a woman passenger’s head and her husband’s leg went inside a seat and got stuck there with pool of blood scattered everywhere.
Meanwhile, a well placed source from MTC said that whether the driver was drunk or not will depend on the medical report.
When asked if the medical report actually proves that the driver was drunk, he said then the normal disciplinary action of MTC will be applied and the driver can even be expelled from service.
The source also said that MTC officers were there before the departure of the bus and whether the bus driver was drunk should have been checked by these ground officers, then and there.
He also said that the bus which was allotted to the passengers at 7pm developed some technical snag and could not be repaired on time and so a spare bus was allotted to them for the journey.
