Close shave: Door of speeding bus comes off near Moulali, passenger thrown off
Times of India | 12 June 2024
Kolkata: At least four passengers were injured— one of them seriously — after the door on the bus they were leaning on, collapsed and crashed onto the road on Tuesday. The driver was arrested.
Cops said the incident was reported on CIT Road close to the Moulali crossing, when the bus was on its way to Howrah from Mukundapur. The incident took place around 9.45 am as the bus was about to enter S N Banerjee Road.
Cops from the Entally police station and Sealdah traffic guard said that only one person was injured as he was thrown off the vehicle and the door landed on him. “A few people were leaning on the door near the middle of the bus. The driver had just accelerated after crossing Ramlila Maidan and swerved to the left when there was a sudden crash and people started tumbling. One of them was thrown out of the bus,” said Suraj Singh, a passenger. Wasim Hossain (28), a resident of Tiljala road, who was thrown to the road, was taken to NRS Hospital, where doctors said his condition was out of danger.
The bus driver was found steering the vehicle rashly, said police. Cops from the Entally police station arrested him, detained the conductor and seized the bus. An officer said the owner would also be summoned.
The bus’s insurance had not been renewed and it was earlier involved in another accident on Dec 1, 2009, police said. Bus owners and police said that 38 of the 39 buses on Route 24A/1 would go off the road between Oct and Dec this year, as all of them would be scrapped after completing 15 years. Given the imminent end to the “bus lives”, owners have reportedly become negligent towards the maintenance of the vehicles though the bus involved in Tuesday’s accident had a valid fitness certificate.
Following the accident, police renewed checks on commercial vehicles. “We have been asked to check fitness certificates, insurance papers and resoled tyres. The inspection was put on hold due to the polls, but we are renewing it. With most buses in the city expected to be scrapped in the next two years (BS III and BS IV), there are several issues regarding their maintenance. There are also complaints of CFs being obtained by hiring new equipment. We will propose joint raids with the transport department,” said a senior officer.