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Journalism of Courage
Five members of a family 8212; including a one-and-a-half-year old 8212; are crushed to death by a speeding private bus operating under the Delhi Transport Corporation8217;s DTC kilometre scheme. The Singhs of Vikaspuri, on their way home from a Sunday visit to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, simply pay the price for following traffic rules in a city where drivers think it8217;s their right to go over the yellow road-dividers to overtake vehicles in their lane and hit you head-on. Transport Minister Parvez Hashmi expresses shock at the accident and orders an inquiry. He contends that the 2,650 buses running under the kilometre scheme are in any case causing a loss of Rs 6 crore per month to the DTC, despite the fact that they were started to reduce the rate of accidents in the city. Now that the basic premise stands challenged, a fresh look at the scheme is in order.
Quite. One look at the figures, however, proves that it is a much belated reaction and still fails to take into account many vital aspects of the issue. Of the 315 people who have died in road accidents since January 1, as many as 297 were hit by buses. On January 8, for instance, 12-year-old Amandeep slipped from the footboard of a DTC km-scheme bus when the driver refused to stop near Guru Tegh Bahadur School in Karol Bagh. On March 11, another km-scheme DTC bus knocked down a 26-year-old scooterist in Pandav Nagar. That it took five innocent lives to shake the slumber of the Transport Minister speaks volumes for his concern for the safety of the people.
Not that the Bluelines are any better. If they sight a potential competitor on the route, they literally run amuck. Therein lies the crux of the problem. There is nobody to regulate the sole form of public transport in the Capital. Even as the DTC runs colossal losses, both the politicians and the bureaucrats continue to react in a predictable manner. They do little to improve the basic service, spending as they are more time thinking up grandiose plans for moments of public outrage that threaten their jobs. Come to think of it, it is hardly surprising that the Transport Minister knows little about the road behaviour of the fleets under his charge. He may not be true to his job, but he is only being true to his tribe. No wonder that he, along with the commuters, keeps getting taken for a ride.
