8-year-old falls while boarding racing bus on Bidhan Sarani
Times of India | 16 July 2024
Kolkata: An eight-year-old was injured in her right leg after she fell from a private bus while boarding it with her mother on the way back from school. The incident took place near Bethune Collegiate School on Bidhan Sarani.
Locals claimed that two buses on route 78/1 — plying from Babughat to Rahara — were racing each other when the incident took place around 11 am on Monday.
The student of class III, Madhusree Das, lives in Satchasipara close to Sinthee. She has been admitted to a local nursing home where her condition is stated to be out of danger. Cops said the student was in trauma. Cops said both bus drivers were initially detained and questioned, and the buses seized. Cops are waiting for the girl’s family to lodge an FIR.
There was some confusion after the local Ultadanga Traffic Guard claimed that the girl had lost her footing and fallen and that the bus drivers could not be held responsible. However, Lalbazar stated that the kid could not have fallen if the bus had not started moving even as another bus was trying to overtake it. Cops stated they are checking CCTV footage to ascertain the exact sequence of events.
Cops claimed that under the Motor Vehicles Act, the drivers competing with each other will face stricter sections. “The arrests are aberrations and reserved only for extreme cases. But we are now slapping MV sections 183 and 184 dealing with driving at a speed exceeding limit and dangerous or reckless driving that can lead to steep fines (up to Rs 2,000) and jail,” said a senior officer.
Cops said the hardening of stance came after repeated accidents on the streets, twice where children were at the receiving end due to racing buses in the past month.
The message is clear — every time a bus driver is issued a simple challan, he passes it on to the owner. “Unless the driver is made accountable for his own act and is forced to pay from his pocket, things will not change. We are sure an owner will not digest having to cough up Rs 2,000 each time from his profits,” an officer said.
The analysis of the two-month Safe Drive Save Life campaign has revealed that besides bikes, the biggest traffic violators in the city have been the buses. Interestingly, among them, the worst offenders have been govt and minibuses. Police said a drive with PVD has been planned against such offending buses.