The Kochi City police are actively considering a proposal for making police clearance certificate (PCC) mandatory for private bus employees after toying with the idea several times in the past without never really enforcing it.
The move comes in the wake of the recent spate of accidents involving private buses drawing the attention of the Kerala High Court. A joint drive by the city police and the Motor Vehicles department (MVD) was launched in the city on Friday to rein in erring private buses.
“The proposal is in the pipeline notwithstanding private bus operators’ complaint that there was already a short supply of bus workers,” said S. Sasidharan, Deputy Police Commissioner (Kochi City).
K.B. Suneer, secretary of the District Private Bus Operators’ Association, said bus operators would cooperate with the police in any initiative aimed at safety notwithstanding difficulties in obtaining PCC for workers who hail from other districts. He nevertheless raised serious reservations about the present punishment regime of the police and the MVD, which, according to him, hardly served as a deterrent to erring bus employees but penalised operators.
“For instance, a driver violating speed limits go scot-free, while the bus operator is slapped with a fine of ₹3,000. There are any number of instances in which even aged women bus owners get fined for offences such as overspeeding despite not even having a heavy vehicle licence. Instead, the police should intercept the bus and register a case against the driver concerned,” said Mr. Suneer.
He also questioned the logic of a driver booked for drunk driving getting bail in no time, while the bus gets seized and produced before court, thus again penalising owners.
However, a veteran bus operator, on condition of anonymity, confided that bus operators who made payment of wages to workers incumbent on collection were equally to blame for overspeeding and resultant accidents. He also came down on the proposed PCC for bus workers as a mere farce while overlooking the fundamental issues causing accidents involving buses.
“What is the guarantee that a worker with no previous criminal antecedents will not commit a crime in the future. Rather, the authorities should look into basic issues such as overspeeding and why it happens,” he said.
However, going by data, the city police seem to be keeping a close tab on private buses. The police have examined 69,189 buses so far this year, while petty cases have been charged against 14,400. Fine to the tune of ₹20.17 lakh has been collected.
Rash driving and driving under the influence of alcohol remain the two major offences for which 2,096 drivers have been booked with recommendation forwarded to the MVD for the suspension of driving licence of 797 drivers. Besides, 2,160 private buses were booked for either not having doors or not keeping them closed while the bus is on the move.
“Drunk driving is rampant among bus drivers. To check this, we conduct checks at selected points before the start of services. The situation is especially worse during Mondays when multiple cases are usually registered,” said Mr. Sasidharan. He added that passengers who turned restless whenever the police stopped a bus as part of enforcement drive also emboldened erring drivers.
