Kurnool Bus Tragedy: Deadly cocktail of govt negligence and owner’s greed claims 19 lives
J Diwakar
Nineteen passengers were burnt to death when a Hyderabad-Bengaluru sleeper coach bus, run by V Kaveri Travels, caught fire after a collision with a motorcycle on the outskirts of Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh on October 24. The accident brought to light the chronic government negligence in enforcing safety and other rules, and exposed the mad-for-maximising-profit private bus owners who blatantly flout norms and cut corners in utter disregard for safety norms. As the accident has created a stir, the owner of the bus must be arrested immediately and charged with murder, an inquiry should be conducted by a retired High Court judge, the families of the deceased should be paid adequate compensation, and one member from each family should be given a government job.
HOW DID THE ACCIDENT HAPPEN?
A preliminary report states that the presence of a large number of cell phones in the bus contributed to the blaze. Fire experts state that a safety guard should be in place to prevent anything from going under the bus chassis. It is reported that the bus dragged the motorcycle, leading to it catching fire. According to the preliminary report, the bus lacked such a safety guard. In fact, almost no large vehicle has such arrangements. Also, commercial goods, especially the inflammable ones, should not be allowed on buses supposed to carry only passengers. A key reason for the fire to spread so rapidly was the presence of 400 cell phones in the luggage carrier. There is a rule that no luggage with inflammable properties should be allowed with passengers. However, owners, treating profit as the ultimate goal, blatantly violated this rule and allowed these, resulting in the maximum loss of lives in the accident.
Transport officials also confirmed that the bus involved in the accident was permitted only as a seating-only vehicle, but it was being run as a sleeper coach. All AC buses are fitted with window glasses that cannot be slid open from front to back. In emergencies, passengers should be able to break the windows and escape. Tools like hammers should be placed inside the bus to break the glass, and passengers should be instructed on how to use them in emergencies. However, news reports indicated that the bus lacked such equipment, and consequently, passengers could not immediately break the windows and get out. News reports indicated that most of the deceased were sleeping in the berths above the luggage carrier. It is understood that these factors combined led to the death of 19 people.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
The bus owner, who committed so many illegalities, is primarily responsible for the accident. The government, which failed to thoroughly and regularly inspect safety arrangements, too should be held responsible for the accident.
COULD SUCH AN ACCIDENT BE AVERTED?
The Kurnool accident took place days after 21 passengers were burnt alive in a private bus accident in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, on October 15. Two years ago, 25 passengers were burnt alive after a private bus caught fire in Maharashtra. Forty-five people were burnt alive in the accident involving a Jabbar Travels bus near Palem in Mahbubnagar district, Telangana, 12 years ago. It has become a routine for governments to express shock every time such an accident takes place. But we all know that no action follows thereafter.
In the context of globalisation, government policy tends to provide private bus owners “freedom” under the pretext that imposing restrictions or conducting inspections would be counterproductive. We see everywhere today that governments are burying their responsibilities towards the public and their accountability in the name of 'ease of doing business' and 'speed of doing business'. In reality, the owner of the V Kaveri Travels bus, responsible for the death of 19 people, should have been arrested and jailed for murder. But this has not happened to date. This is because of the policy of granting “freedom” to private owners without causing them any trouble.
As part of these government policies, the central government amended the Motor Vehicles Act in 2019. The main objective of that amendment was to hand over the entire road transport (auto, taxi, bus, lorry, etc.) in the country to large corporate entities. To achieve this goal, the new section called “aggregator” was added to the law. Another amendment in the law abolished the Tourist and Contract Carriage Permit regulations, combining them all into a “Transport Permit. Similarly, some sections were added to bury RTCs (road transport corporations) and encourage private operators.
Subsequently, in 2021, under the slogan of "one nation, one law," the central government introduced the National Permit Scheme. Under the scheme, private bus owners can obtain a national permit by paying a tax of Rs 3 lakh to the central government. They can transport passengers from anywhere to anywhere. The owner of a bus with a national permit has to pay the motor vehicle tax to the state where the vehicle is registered, according to that state's rules. As a result, private bus owners are registering their buses in states where the tax is the bare minimum and running buses indiscriminately on highly profitable routes in states that yield higher revenue. Since they are not paying tax in the state where the bus operates and the permit is issued by the central government, state officials are sitting like spectators stating that the inspection is not their concern.
The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961, mandates that drivers should not be allowed to work for more than 8 hours, and there should be a half-hour rest after five hours of driving. The central government has undermined this by formulating Labour Codes that increase working hours. Even more significantly, the Andhra Pradesh government recently amended the law to increase the working hours. Also, drivers receive no training.
Private buses travel at high speed, completely disregarding the speed limit rule. Also, there is no attention paid to the vehicle's condition. Taking advantage of the changes in government policies, private bus owners circumvent rules and are playing with the lives of passengers. In essence, it is clear that the central and state governments are the main culprits behind bus accidents and passenger deaths happening today. The fact that the V Kaveri Travels bus had 16 e-challans and a pending fine of ₹23,120 shows the extent of government negligence.
THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA
Whenever such accidents occur, the mainstream media initially acts to blame the driver, thereby covering up the failures of the government and the owner. They do not have patience to wait till an investigation finds out whether the driver was actually at fault or what the main causes and failures leading to the accident were. For a day or two after the accident, they flood the public with extensive analyses and news reports, acting as champions, and then wash their hands off it. It is very regrettable that the mainstream media does not continuously highlight government failures and illegal practices by owners and authorities.
THE WAY FORWARD
* The National Permit System, which leads to violations of rules and thereby horrific road accidents, must be immediately abolished.
* The central government must immediately take over private buses with national permits and hand them over to the respective state RTCs.
* RTCs, which stand as a symbol of passenger safety, convenience, and accountability, must be strengthened.
* A safety committee must be established in the country and in Andhra Pradesh state. This committee should include transport and RTC officials, along with administration, technical, and safety experts, and trade union representatives.
* Associations representing passengers who have no connection with private bus owners should also be included in this committee.
* Under the aegis of this committee, all private buses legally operating in the state should be thoroughly inspected immediately. Based on the report, the government must sincerely and strictly enforce the rules for passenger safety.
Workers, passengers, the public, and public organisations must act immediately. Pressure must be built on the government to formulate correct policies and ensure their strict enforcement. A constant watchful eye must be kept on the illegal activities of private bus owners. Only then will the lives of the people be secured.
