A private city bus reportedly ran berserk at a curve near Heber Road and ran over a tomato vendor, who died on the spot , and also knocked down a motorcycle, injuring the rider and his school-going son, before coming to a halt, on Tuesday morning. A few students were also said to have been injured.
The rush-hour accident triggered an instant protest by the public. The window panes of the private bus were broken due to stone pelting by a section of the protestors. The deceased, Sakthivel (58), was a resident of Beema Nagar area. The father-son duo was rushed to a private hospital.
The Inspector of Palakkkarai police station Murugavel who arrived subsequently at the spot sustained head injuries in the melee. Police had to resort to a mild lathicharge to disperse the protestors. Traffic was held up for about an hour as another group blocked the road. The police arrested 11 persons and had them remanded in judicial custody. The driver Balaji (26) was also arrested and sent for judicial remand.
Blaming rash and careless driving by private bus drivers for loss of lives, C. Balasubramanian, honorary president, Tiruchi District Exnora, castigated the city buses for not following the time schedule properly. The zeal for higher collection ‘bata' results in the reckless driving, he said, and called upon the traffic police and the road transport authorities to enforce speed restriction of 30 km per hour within city limits. Erring drivers should be punished with hefty penalties, he said.
The issue of abolishing collection ‘bata' was discussed at a meeting of private bus operators convened by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime and Traffic, S. Ramaiah, later in the day, in the wake of the accident. Mr. Ramaiah cautioned the bus operators that in case of future accidents, cases would be filed and the licences of the drivers would be suspended. He advised the bus operators to implement a system of fixed pay based on average collections, to replace the concept of collection ‘bata', and to prevent unnecessary competition amongst them.
On their part, the operators had expressed readiness to collectively decide on abolition of collection ‘bata'. Resenting media's projection of private bus operators as criminals, the private operators, however, admitted shortage of manpower. They brought to the notice of Mr. Ramaiah the steps they had taken for training the drivers. Their standpoint was that a small section of the drivers sullied the entire image of the private operators.
