KSRTC bus on fire: Safety features missing, but offers galore

The recent fire inside the KSRTC bus in Nelamangala makes one think seriously about the necessary safety features in the bus. Reports said that the bus did not have any fire extinguisher and even that the driver and conductor did not know to open the emergency exit. This ignorance resulted in the death of a woman, who was charred inside the bus and another woman is battling between life and death in the hospital with 70% burns.

This is not the only incident, where commuters life is put at risk, but 60 people have lost their lives in less than four years in Karnataka alone that due to fire accidents in the bus.

A report in Times of India states that the authorities have told that installing fire extinguishers was not compulsory according to the Motor Vehicles Act, especially applicable to the buses which do not have AC facility.

Sources said that the fire was caught due to the inflammable substance being carried by one of the passengers. Thus it makes it clear that there was no checking before the passenger boards the bus. Most of the times rules are taken for granted, and safety measures matter only for some days after a tragic incident. After which the authorities as well as people returned to the usual attitude and brushed aside any thoughts of mishaps.

Previous fire-related incidents

Now, considering the previous records too, there have been major accidents by or to the KSRTC buses. For example in October 2008, two buses (Volvo and an ordinary bus) of the KSRTC collided, killing six and injuring seven.  The reason was that the driver of the ordinary KSRTC bus was trying to overtake the Volvo. The incident occurred in Kolar.

In another incident which occurred in Mahabubnagar in 2013, a privately owned Volvo (KPN Travels) taking people from Bengaluru to Hyderabad was charred due to fire, killing 45 people inside the bus.

A similar incident happened in Haveri in the same year when a Volvo to Mumbai rammed a rail bridge and went up in flames. Seven people lost their live Another fire which broke inside the sleeper bus in 2014 in Chitradurga killed six people. 15 were injured as the driver drove the bus into a ditch. Last year in June, a sleeper bus travelling to Bengaluru from Davanagere had caught fire. Three persons were dead, and 10 were injured.

In most of these fire-related incidents, it was found that either the driver was negligent while driving or there were safety measures lacking (including technical glitch) inside the bus.

Statistics

The statistics (according to October 10, 2016), every day 25.57 lakh people travel in KSRTC every day. It has 36,875 staff and 8348 vehicles under its gambit. With such large number of people dependent on the KSRTC for travelling, installing safety measures is the least thing authorities can do.

The latest news on KSRTC is that it is giving 25 % discount to the senior citizens while booking a ticket for travel. But as of now, more than the discount, safeguarding lives of people is important. Thus the organisation and authorities concerned should take an interest in installing safety measures in the buses.