When R. Sreedher, former director, All India Radio (AIR), boarded a Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus on Tuesday afternoon, he did not imagine he would soon be in hospital.
Mr. Sreedher, who boarded the bus (route no. 21G) in Kotturpuram, sustained fractures in his fingers after the bus door closed on them.
A former director of AIR, Bhopal, who also worked in Doordarshan, Mr. Sreedhar is now settled in Delhi. He had come to Chennai for personal work and also to meet the director of AIR, Chennai.
“I climbed a couple of steps from the back door and was standing near the conductor. I put my right hand in my pocket to take out money and placed my left hand near the door for balance. The conductor blew the whistle and the automatic door closed and my fingers got jammed,” said Mr. Sreedher, speaking to The Hindu.
When the conductor asked him if he wished to get down, Mr. Sreedher, who was in pain, agreed. He rushed to a private hospital in Adyar. “The doctors said that my fingers were fractured and they performed plastic surgery, too,” he added.
On Wednesday morning, MTC officials visited Mr. Sreedher. “The conductors should be trained in first-aid, and rubber beading or sensors should be fixed on automatic doors,” said Mr. Sreedher.
Other commuters second his suggestion. “The conductor should have called ‘108’ and ensured the injured passenger got immediate attention,” said S. Ramanujam, a resident of Triplicane who travels by the MTC services frequently.
Many other passengers raised the issue of maintenance of the automatic doors. “They are rickety. Besides, I do not see any first-aid box in buses. It is mandatory to have them,” says N. Usha, a resident of Mylapore who is a regular on the 21-G route.
Senior MTC officials said there are around 600 buses with automatic doors. “We are fitting rubber beadings in all the doors. The conductor has also been summoned for enquiry and is likely to be suspended,” said an official.
He added that all conductors are trained in handling minor injuries. “We will ensure first-aid boxes are placed in all the buses. Many kits are damaged by unruly passengers.”
