When officials of the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) decided to keep a tight rein on public transport vehicles that do not adhere to the norms, more than 25 private buses kept off the road on Saturday evening to fix the hitherto-missing speed governors in their vehicles to escape on-the-spot legal action.
Though checking drives were being conducted occasionally for enforcing the speed-governor rules, most of the private bus owners were evading them strategically.
Some of them managed to trick the officials by fitting the equipment temporarily on the vehicles and then removing it for speeding. They resorted to the same tricks even while bringing the vehicles for annual fitness tests.
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During Saturday’s special drive, the MVD officials, headed by Regional Transport Officer Rajiv Puthalath, suspended the fitness certificates of six private buses that operated services after removing speed governors.
Altogether, 36 private vehicles were traced during the drive and imposed fine for not fixing the instrument.
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Mr. Puthalath said the drive would be intensified all over the Malabar region in the coming days and stringent legal action would be initiated against the violators.
“We have been directed by the department higher-ups to act strictly and no concessions will be granted to the violators,” he added.
Along with private buses, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses too were checked by the MVD officials on Saturday. They found four KSRTC buses without the speed- control device. Notice has been served on the KSRTC authorities to fix them immediately for avoiding legal action.
Mr. Puthalath said the speed limit of private buses, as per the existing rules and regulations, would be limited to 60 kmph. Speed governors would not allow drivers to cross the limit, and this would be an easy option to control the rising number of road accidents, he pointed out.
However, many of the private bus drivers, who rushed to fix speed governors on Saturday, made it clear that it would not be a practical solution to recurring accidents. They also expressed their dissent over the quick action without giving them time to fix the device.
‘Regulate timings’
“We hardly have any issue with speed governors if the MVD officials were introducing a standard system to regulate the timing of buses. With the speed governor, we would not be able to manage the time schedule, especially during the peak hours,” said a private bus driver, who was visibly restless while queuing up before a shop to fix the equipment.
He also stated that none of the bus drivers were interested in the exercise and they were doing it purely out of the pressure over legal action.