The ghastly bus accident at Mahabubnagar, which resulted in the death of 45 passengers, has prompted the transport officials to conduct a slew of inspections to assess the condition of buses playing in the city.
As is the ‘knee-jerk’ practice after such major mishaps, the transport and police officials came to the streets to check the passing vehicles. They checked the fitness of private buses right from the emergency brakes to minute details like covering on fuel tanks during the inspections.
“Acting upon orders of the Transport Commissioner, we began a special drive to check the condition of the vehicles. This is being conducted especially today, besides our regular monthly checkups,” said Road Transport Officer M.S.B. Prasad.
90 per cent buses fit
He further said that 90 percent of the buses plying in the city limits were completely fit and the remaining 10 per cent lacked the first-aid kits and fire safety measures. “There are about forty established norms that a vehicle has to satisfy and we have levied fines on the buses that flouted the norms. A bus with a severely cracked windshield was also seized during the inspection,” he added.
Checking to continue
Vehicle documents like insurance, permit, fitness certificate, driving license, tax and pollution control certificate were also verified. Officials said that the inspections would go on, except on the public holiday – Deepavali.