The amicus curiae appointed by the High Court in the road rage case has suggested that the permanent monitoring and enforcement committee proposed by him to end road rage in Kochi should formulate a compulsory training programme for the crew of private buses and stipulate and monitor maximum speed limit for private and KSRTC buses in the city.
In his report, Kaleeswaram Raja, amicus curiae, suggested that the committee headed by the district collector could consist of Deputy District Police Chief (Law and Order), Regional Transport Officer, and Secretary, Kochi Corporation. The committee should meet once in a month and review the running time target of “one km in three minutes” set for private buses and revise the same, taking into consideration the traffic, road conditions and ongoing metro rail construction works.
The committee should also fix an appropriate maximum speed limit for KSRTC and private buses in the city and ensure that the maximum speed limit was strictly adhered to by all buses. The committee should also ensure that the bus crew and owner were fined separately for violation of the speed limit. The licence of the driver and the conductor and the vehicle permits should be suspended for a particular period if the speed limit was exceeded for a second time. For further violation, the licence or permit should be cancelled and the crew shall be debarred from being employed in any other bus.
The committee should ensure that a fresh schedule is fixed for private buses in a scientific manner. There should be sufficient gap between the trips so that the crew get sufficient rest and drivers were not compelled to overspend the buses to meet the schedule. The amicus curiae while suggesting that the committee should formulate an appropriate compulsory training programme for the crew of private buses, also recommended that it should ensure that any future permits should be given only after the crew completed the training programme. Appropriate action should be taken by the committee if any untrained crew was found on any bus.
The final report also recommended that the committee shall ensure that no crew with criminal antecedents was employed in a private bus and the crew should produce a certificate from the concerned police station while attending the training programme.
Only licensed conductors should be employed by private bus owners. The committee should also implement the suggestion, if found feasibly, that global positioning system (GPS) or similar gadgets should be installed in private and KSRTC buses so that the buses could be monitored for their speed limits and time schedule from a centralised location.
News Source : The Hindu
