Hundreds of private buses plying on city roads with cancelled licence and premits
Hundreds of private buses plying on city roads with cancelled licence and premits
They were synonymous with accidents and deaths on city roads and the government decided to phase them
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Bluelines will not be phased out completely before December 2010 |
out. However, hundreds of Blueline buses are still plying on city roads though many of them do not even have valid permits or license to run.
The government has swung in action. Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely has asked the transport department officials to prepare a list of defaulters and initiate strict action against them.
Sources in transport department told MiD DAY that the order came after the Minister received a complaint, alleging that a number of Blueline buses are still plying on the roads without valid papers.
The sources also confirmed that the officials have already started preparing a list of defaulters. "The Blueline buses were to be phased out by March 2010 as per a government announcement of October 2007. However, as the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) failed to acquire requisite number of buses and implement the corporatization plan of the city public transport system, the buses could only be phased out only by Decmeber 2010," said an official, wishing anonymity.
He added that as the deadline is nearing, permits of 7-8 buses are expiring every day.
"It is quite possible that the mafia has taken over and running the buses. We have initiated the process and very soon we will be able to nail the guilty," the official said.
However, the Blueline owners claim that there might be some "black sheep" among them but all of them are "not bad"
"You can make generalizations. All of us are not rogues. It was the vehicles being run by the transport mafia which is engaged in all malpractices," a Blueline bus union leader said.
The transport department admits that there is a shortage of staff to run a check on the huge number of buses.
"There is no foolproof mechanism to check such rogue buses. Checking such a large number of buses will be a cumbersome exercise. Anyway we are working on it and will be able to find the guilty," said the official.
800 Number of Blueline buses that have been phased out.
2,600 Number of Blueline buses, which are still plying.
| On the prowl |
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In 2008 at least 111 people were killed in road accidents involving privately operated Blueline buses against 151 in 2007.
A total of 8,270 accidents had occurred in the capital in the year 2006, in which 2,050 people were killed. |
