Crackdown on speeding buses after accidents

By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram

Police in Kerala have started a crackdown on speeding buses after a series of accidents claiming several lives were reported last week.

Authorities yesterday cancelled the fitness certificates of 136 buses operating regular services in different parts of the state after their speed governors were found faulty.

More than 300 others were put on notice.

Four buses operated by the state-run Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) also received notices to replace the faulty speed governor.

“I have directed the police chief to take stiff action, including cancellation of their licences. There’ll be no mercy on the erring operators,” Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said. 

More than two dozen people, mostly young students, were killed in road accidents involving speeding buses last week. Thirteen people were killed when their bus rammed a tree and overturned at Perinthalmanna town in Malappuram district on Friday.

Following the accident, the Kerala State Motor Vehicles Department decided to cancel the fitness certificates of buses operating without speed governors.  If a vehicle which was served the notice was caught flouting norms again, its fitness certificate would be cancelled immediately.

Bus operators staged flash strikes at some places yesterday protesting against the police action. They have also called a meeting in Kochi today to decide on the future course of action including an indefinite strike.

The bus operators blame the accidents on the narrow roads and poor quality of their maintenance while the authorities insist that the condition of roads has nothing to do with increasing incidents of road accidents.