A year after seven deaths, route 460 is back to ‘normal’

The deaths jolted the government, its transport and police departments to introspect if the establishment was going too soft on Blueline owners. It was also reported by Newsline that many bus owners on this route in Badarpur enjoyed the patronage of local criminal Nawab Khan, and therefore the police kept away from pulling up errant drivers.

Very soon, the government had also taken the decision to phase out this fleet from Delhi’s roads, asking all bus owners to install speed governors in the vehicles.

However, not much has changed on this route in Badarpur. Nearly 300 Blueline buses run on it every day. Beena’s father Gulzari Lal said: “We are still harassed by drivers and conductors. They do not stop the bus at Aali village. They misbehave when we oppose, and have even beaten up passengers.”

He added: “The accident changed out lives. I was in hospital for two months, and Daman is still a little unstable because his injuries were in the head. That day we were going to a relative’s place to discuss Beena’s marriage. She was to be married after Diwali.”

The killer bus, DL1P B 8776, is still parked at the Badarpur police station. The police had registered a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against driver Anil Kumar, 40. He is in jail. The cops had also booked owner Manish Kakkar and Nawab Khan. They had evaded the police for two months till their arrest on December 27. But they were out on bail two days later.

It was learnt Khan gave ‘safe’ passage to 25 buses in the route. He runs a few buses too, most of which displayed his name prominently in the front. Though his name has been taken off, other bus operators on this route complained the traffic police still shielded his fleet. Bus owner on route 479 Anil Sharma said: “It is not that blatant anymore.”

However, Joint Commissioner (Traffic), S N Srivastava said, “Some of our officers might have helped Khan before, but no longer.”