Jishnu stood with a sheepish grin as Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) Suresh Kumar handed him a check report for working as a conductor without a valid licence.
“Why don’t you come to the office and get yourself a licence,” Mr. Kumar asked, to which again his response was a smile though it came with a nod this time. While tenth standard is the eligibility for a private bus conductor’s licence, Jishnu, claimed to be a graduate, has been serving without one for a while now. The special drive launched by the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) in the city and adjoining areas against erring private buses on Wednesday in the wake of stern observations made by the High Court against private buses and their crew saw charges being slapped against 40 buses on various counts.
The squad led by Mr. Kumar and three assistant MVIs inspected vehicles at Tripunithura bus station as part of the drive.Praveen, owner of Navodaya bus operating Tripunithura-Eroor circular service narrowly escaped a fine of Rs. 10,000 for trip curtailment.
For, the MVD officials found acceptable his reasoning that his bus reached the stand a few minutes earlier after it was forced to cut short service at Eroor railway overbridge owing to ongoing works.
However, the bus’s driver Sudheesh and conductor Biju were not that fortunate as they were charged on multiple counts – for operating without licences and not wearing name badges.
They will now either have to produce their licence before the RTO or shell out Rs. 1,500 as fine.
Naushad, operating in the Aluva-Tripunithura route, should consider himself lucky if not slapped with a fine of Rs. 5,000. His bus was found operating without the mandatory reservation markings for mother carrying toddler. It’s treated as a serious offence in violation of permit conditions.
The drive will be on at least for a week as per the order issued by the Deputy Transport Commissioner (DTC) K.G. Samuel. Each member in the four-member squads for the week has been asked to issue ten check reports each. Dangerous driving, overloading, seat rearrangement, speed governor, air horn, absence of emergency door, rearrangement of seats, use of music and video systems, violation of the 45-cm height norm for footstep are some areas looked into during the drive.
M.P. Praveen
