Journalism of Courage
Bring back rule that reined in errant drivers,say activists
Two years ago,during the tenure of the former chairman and managing director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) Subarao Patil,a driver floutingtraffic rules could get penalised if anyone,even a passenger could produce proof of it.
However,with the constant change in the PMPML leadership,the practice has stopped. Now,bus drivers are seen driving rashly,taking turns at high speed,jumping traffic signals,and halting the buses on zebra crossings.
Two years back,the then CMD of PMPML,Subarao Patil had launched the initiative with an intention of putting the brake on traffic rule violations by PMPML drivers. People could capture a traffic rule violation of a bus driver on their mobiles and then show that as proof to the PMPML authorities,who would ultimately penalise the bus drivers, Vivek Velankar of PMP Pravasi Manch said. This practice had brought some positive results. However,as usual,with the constant change in PMPML leadership after Patil,this practice did not continue. said Velankar.
Over the last three months,we have submitted proposals to the PMPML to appeal to the citizens to once again become a monitoring authority to keep a check on the traffic violations committed by the PMPML bus drivers. However,the civic transport body has not given a serious thought to it so far, he added.
