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| Transporters take Department for a ride | | Breach safety laws, endanger lives | | Syed TahirBukhari
BARAMULLA, June 19: The transport department seems to have little impact on the public transport operators as they continue to give a hoot to the safety measures by breaching some strict laws regarding overloading and reckless driving, basically they lost the grit in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. Travelling on rooftops of minibuses is very dangerous and commuters often lose life and limbs after falling from the roofs of recklessly running minibuses. However, these cases are often hushed up with no serious action against the violators.
A daily passenger of Kreeri-Baramulla Ghulam Hassan told Early Times that, 'It is very unfortunate that Traffic police is least bothered about accidents they are most corrupt men on this earth. They take hefty amount from these drivers which they put in their own pockets then after what is happening is not of their concern'.
The back door issuance of licenses, bribery, favoritism, easy bank loans and rash driving, render the laws and rules meaningless and ineffective, the end result is that the number of road mishaps is increasing day today at an alarming rate. MushtaqBhat an employee from Baramulla says, "the public transport system continue to be a headache for the commuters, those who have no alternative , they walk on a razor's edge every day while travelling to office or for other purposes with unabated overloading and reckless driving by the operators".
Commuters who use these "road monsters" called minibuses' do not know whether they will reach their destinations safely are not. The playing of high- pitch music by the drivers, overcrowding and reckless driving, is a daily phenomenon which the commuters have to face while traveling in these buses, hat said. Many rue that despite repeated requests to drivers and conductors of the minibuses to stop playing loud music and drive with care, they refuse to do so and even the traffic police personnel seem to have turned deaf ear to all this. "There is always fear of being hit by the vehicle and travelling is always a nightmare, particularly during the rush hours. Drivers never give ear to the request of the people to drive slow", said Javid Ahmad Sheikh, a routine commuter. "During peak hours, the minibuses are not only packed to capacity but many passengers even sit on the roof which is extremely dangerous". Let u see the driver of mini bus vide registration no.JK05-8702 as he is never worried of accidents as he keeps passengers on roof top of the vehicle, where is our traffic police department, are they in deep slumber, Sheikh questioned? He says that like dress code as subjected by the state government is not followed by the operators and even the conductors by which we would have come to know who is the actual person riding the bus. "There is always chaos like situation on the roads and it takes lot of experience and guts to survive the day and plan for the next.
There is a dire need for better regulation to make the traveling on the roads terror free and safe", said Fayaz Ahmad, an education department employee. There is a limited capacity of intake in these mini buses but irony is these conductors are pushing passengers to the walls which can cause an untoward incident anytime.
A group of passengers told early times that, "We appeal Transport Minister of J&K and MLA Kreeri Syed Basharat Bukhari that there should be 'to and fro' regular Bus service from Baramulla to Kreeri so that there will be no overloading in morning and evening times". |
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