A recent assurance by the State Government to a High Court Division Bench that doors will be made mandatory on city buses draws attention to the situation in buses operated by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) also.
As many as 517 KSRTC buses lack doors at their entrances, according to the data furnished by Transport Minister Aryadan Mohammed in the Assembly in February. The Minister had supplied the information in a written reply to a question by A A Azeez on February 13.
The matter of doors on buses came up in the High Court following a PIL by Salim Khan of Kozhikode, who sought an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act for making doors mandatory on city buses.
The PIL itself was prompted by the death of a girl who fell to death from a bus. On its part, the government informed the court that the amendment would be made.
While the case does not relate to the KSRTC directly, KSRTC officials said that steps were on to ensure that the state-run transport utility’s buses were fitted with doors to ensure safety of passengers.
“We are making sure that all buses operating services are fitted with doors. All city service buses in Thiruvananthapuram have them.
“Conceded that a few depots still have buses without doors, we have brought their numbers to less than a hundred now,” KSRTC chief traffic manager and executive director (in charge), operations, K M Irshad said.
Source: New Indian Express
