In the last 10 years, CTU buses killed 121 people in accidents

As per official figures, CTU has around 670 drivers for a fleet of 499 buses and is in the process of hiring 140 more drivers and procuring as many as 160 new buses funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. The CTU buses ply on different inter-state routes and within the city, connecting it with Panchkula and Mohali, carrying around 2 lakh passengers on a daily basis.

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A total of 20 persons were killed in 2006 while 22 were killed in accidents involving the CTU buses in 2007, the highest number in the last 10 years. The following year as many as 10 persons were mowed down by the CTU buses. In 2007 and 2008, seven and 15 people, respectively, lost their lives in road accidents involving the CTU buses. The figures of fatal accidents have witnessed a dip in the last two years. In 2014, four persons were killed while in the current year five people have lost their lives.

The buses belonging to depot number 3 of CTU has killed maximum people — 49 — in the last 10 years.

This year, a rashly driven CTU bus had crushed a 65-year-old man riding a cycle-rickshaw in Sector 42 on January 3. On June 26, two persons died while 22 were injured after a CTU bus rammed an autorickshaw ferrying two passengers and then crashed into a scaffolding of an under-construction bridge.

Director (transport) Amit Talwar said that the drivers convicted by the court were dismissed while those acquitted by court faced departmental action.

Corrective steps

Director (transport) Amit Talwar said they had decided to hold workshops for the drivers to make them more sensitive while on duty. Besides, short-duration refresher courses would be organised for the drivers at a Malout-based institute. “We want our drivers to be sensitive and drive with safety,” he said.

Medical help policy

While hearing a case of accident in 2013, in which a Nayagaon resident, Sharmila Gupta, had died after being hit by a CTU bus, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the UT Administration to take a policy decision on providing medical assistance to such victims. So far, the administration is yet to frame the policy. When contacted, UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev said that they were working on the policy and it would be notified shortly.

The state consumer disputes redressal commission had directed CTU to pay Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the family of 16-year-old Anupama who died while undergoing treatment at the PGI after being crushed under a CTU bus on July 17, 2012. The accident tribunal has directed CTU to pay Rs 11.50 lakh as compensation to parents of 12-year-old Rajni, who was run over by a rashly driven CTU bus on January 23, 2014.

Drivers not so fit Medical examination of drivers is conducted annually. In a medical test of around 134 drivers conducted earlier this year, a total of 80 drivers had problems with their near vision while 30 had problem in seeing distant objects. Around 24 drivers were using wrong spectacles.