It seems city’s public transport facilities have changed tracks and are taking a toll on the commuters. If recent incidents are taken into consideration, it appears that instead of transporting them to their destinations, it is running over them and sending them to the pearly gates!
In last three days, four people have been crushed to death by AMTS and BRTS buses. On Friday alone, AMTS buses were involved in eight accidents in the city and in just eight days of this month, 19 accidents were caused by the public transport system.
On Wednesday, an AMTS bus rammed into a bike on Chandlodia road, killing its 24- year-old rider, Harshad Makwana on the spot.
On Thursday, 55-year-old Tulsiben Panikar was crushed to death by a BRTS bus near Ramol express highway.
Panikar, a resident of Sahjanand apartments at CTM was crossing the BRTS route near Ramol, when a speeding BRTS bus mowed her to death. The driver immediately fled from the scene of accident.
In both these cases, locals vandalised the buses involved in the accidents. On Friday, public transport buses killed two people in two separate incidents in the city. First, a 37-year-old man was hit by an AMTS bus near CN Vidyalaya bus-stop at Ambawadi.
Bystanders claimed that Rupji Patel, originally from Dungarpur in Rajasthan, was walking near the bus-stop at 7:45 am when a speeding AMTS bus hit him from behind. He was rushed to VS Hospital where he was declared dead at 8:50 am.
Patel was earning his livelihood by working as a domestic help.
In another fatal incident, a woman was killed when a BRTS bus ran over her in Paldi area on Friday morning. The lady was on her way to pick up her son from school when the incident took place.
According to Ellisbridge police, Meeta Shah, resident of Rangsagar flats in Paldi was passing through a crossroad near Chandranagar Bridge where a BRTS bus (RTO-Maninagar route) mowed her down.
Taking serious note of such incidents, RG Jadeja, deputy superintendent of police (DySP)-Traffic called for drastic measures. He also suggested implementation of rigorous training and counselling sessions for bus drivers.
“This cannot be taken lightly. They must understand the pain of all those family members who have lost their dear ones,” said Jadeja. He also promised to start a drive to check driving licence and registrations of all such drivers.
“I will also recommend monthly programs to give training and counselling to these drivers. It’s high time something was done in this regard,” added Jadeja.
