The fire that reduced a Volvo bus to cinders in Anantapur district on Sunday has yet again brought to light lacunae in the monitoring of fire safety norms in long-distrance buses.
After the 2013 Volvo bus mishap at Palem in Mahabubnagar District, in which 45 passengers were charred to death, the Transport Department had made it mandatory for bus operators, including the APSRTC, to install hammers and fire extinguishers in every air-conditioned bus. It was also made mandatory – as it is on aircraft – to give a two-minute live demo on emergency exits, placement of hammers to break open windows and fire extinguishers.
This apart, a three-minute video on emergency measures has to be played on TV sets in all AC buses. But thanks to official apathy, a majority of private buses lack such facilities. Nearly 750 AC buses are operated by private operators in Andhra Pradesh and a majority of them lack the stipulated number of fire extinguishers and hammers.
All buses have to obtain mandatory fitness certificate every year from the Transport Department. Officials have to check fire safety and emergency exit mechanisms before issuing fitness certificates to buses. Yet yet many buses continue to operate without these facilities.
The problem is that most operators get around these fitness checks by getting the equipment used in other buses and fixing them in the bus being checked. Officials do not have any mechanism to cross-check. With limited manpower, which is already caught up in conducting drunken driving and tax collection drives, these things are often overlooked, explains a senior official of the department.
The APSRTC operates about 200 AC buses, including Garuda, Vennela and Indra. Compared to private buses, the APSRTC officials claim hammers and fire extinguishers are maintained well but most of the crew have no idea about using it.
“There is a fire extinguisher in the bus but I do not know how to operate it. Except for films and advertisements, videos explaining the emergency exit measures are hardly played,” says a driver.
1. Sleeper buses need to have four hammers and two fire extinguishers in each bus. 2. Regular AC buses like Indra should have two hammers and one fire extinguisher. 3. Drivers have to brief passengers about the emergency exit measures before commencing each journey.
