Department set to launch state-wide drive to check fitness of public transport vehicles

Kolkata: Following the direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the state Transport department is going to start a state-wide drive to check the fitness of public transport vehicles.

According to a senior official of the state Transport department, checking of goods vehicles is carried out round-the-year.

"Now, we are going to initiate a process to carry out periodical fitness checking of public transport vehicles," the official said, adding that initially emphasis will be given on checking fitness of buses and mini-buses that ply on different routes. It has been stated that there are two reasons behind starting fitness check of public transport vehicles. First of all, it will help in reducing the number of road accidents and will also ensure that commuters get better service, particularly as the bus fares have recently gone up. It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister has called for necessary steps to ensure periodical fitness checking of vehicles to avoid accidents.

Since stress will be initially given on checking the fitness of buses, the official said that they will be checking whether a passenger is facing any problem while travelling in the vehicles. Citing some examples, the official added that they will be checking the condition of tyres being used in the public transport vehicles.

It may be mentioned that use of good quality tyres in buses is mandatory to check accidents. According to experts, the chances of skidding goes up when sudden brake is applied if the condition of tyre is poor or if the vehicle is fitted with rethreaded tyres. Mainly in monsoon, many accidents take place due to the use of rethreaded tyres, as vehicles do not stop despite applying brakes.

Besides checking the quality of tyres, the officials will also check the overall condition of a bus to find out whether water drips from its ceiling and causes inconvenience to passengers. They will also check the condition of seats.

"The checking will be carried out at different points and it will be done following the pick and choose method. Necessary steps will be taken if they find that the vehicles are not maintained properly," the official said, adding that their endeavour is to ensure better amenities for passengers.

The bus owners, in whose vehicles any fault is found, will be directed to repair the same, before plying them again.

This comes at the time when the state government has taken up the state-wide Safe Drive Save Life campaign to bring down the rate of accidents.