The recent fire incidents involving luxury buses, which took place near Mahabubnagar in Andhra Pradesh and Haveri in Karnataka, claiming at least 47 lives has become a cause of concern for the passengers taking luxury buses to Patna and other long route destinations.
Though, the transport department claimed to take all the safety measure under the law while issuing fitness certificates to the buses it also admitted that such accidents are beyond human control.
“Our concern is to check that the vehicles do not violate the parameters to be fulfilled under the provisions of Central Motor Vehicle act of 1989. Beyond that it is not our jurisdiction,” said the Ranchi MVI Ram Kishore Yadav. It is checked whether the vehicle which has to run on the road is technically fit or not,” he added.
Under the Motor Vehicle Act, it is ensured whether the brakes, tyres, back light, head lights and other crucial fittings are functional or not, he added. Besides, the condition of seats and body are also checked while giving the fitness certificates to them.
“As far as luxury buses are concerned, there are no specific set instructions for them. It is understood that the companies are taking adequate safety measures which are spending crores of rupees in the Research and Development before launching them into the market,” he added.
“There is no any separate parameter fixed for luxury buses. The government, however, is sensitive enough to make amendments from time to time to meet the changing scenario,” added the MVI. He however confirmed that there were no amendments made for the last several years.
The bus operators, however, said that there is no need for the passengers to get panic.
Gaurav Travels running Mercedes Benz buses from Ranchi to Patna said that no such incident has taken place with the Mercedes buses so far anywhere and those buses which caught fire were of a different company. He however claimed that the Mercedes takes all the precautions to prevent such incidents.
“The buses in which the accidents took place in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were Volvo buses which have diesel tanks in the front under the driver’s seat while the Mercedes Benz has their tanks on the back side,” said Manager of Gaurav luxary Ravi Kant.
According to Kant, one need not worry if any such situation arises in the Mercedes buses as it has at least four emergency exits – two on the top while two with the seats 1A and 1B. Besides, it also has a manual lever for opening the gate, added Kant.
“To meet any emergency situation, our buses do have fire extinguishers as well as glass breaking hammers insider it,” he said. Kant however, admitted that once the tank having a good volume of diesel in it catches fire, it is difficult to control it, which could happen with any of the buses, be it a luxury or a regular bus.
Three Mercedes Benz buses are plying daily on Ranchi-Patna road while one bus runs on Patna-Jamshedpur Road by Gaurav luxury.
Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) General Manager Devendra Rai, on the other hand, running four Volvo buses on Ranchi Patna route, allayed fears regarding Volvo buses as no such accident has taken place in Bihar-Jharkhand so far.
“We should not rush to any conclusion as not a single bus of BSRTC has met such an accident as we have given clear cut instructions not to play with the lives of the passengers. Moreover, we take extra precaution to prevent such situation,” said Rai.
According to Rai, the corporation has also given clear cut instructions to the drivers as well as conductors that if any damage is caused, it will be charged from their pockets. “If the buses are run cautiously, why such accident will happenIJ” assured Rai. Given the condition that one must check the fitness of the vehicles from time to time, which is done by us regularly,” he added.
Seven passengers, including a toddler, were charred to death when a Mumbai-bound Volvo bus hit the concrete railing of a bridge and caught fire in a north Karnataka town just a few weeks after 45 people were charred to death when a Hyderabad-bound Volvo bus hit a culvert and caught fire.