Even as the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) cracks the whip on contract carriages that operate in the guise of stage carriers, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses openly flout rules and safety standards by holding trips to Sabarimala with decorated buses.
This is in violation of a High Court order and safety standards prescribed by the Motor Vehicle Act. The High Court, in an order dated November 15, held that such decorated vehicles cannot be permitted to be used in public places for carrying Sabarimala pilgrims or any other passengers.
Acting on a plea, the court had issued the direction after the standing counsel for KSRTC acknowledged that the vehicle in question (decorated with garlands and sandal paste) was operated from Attingal depot to Pamba. The counsel then submitted that such practice was being followed in some other depots across the State as well.
The court then directed the Enforcement Officers in the Motor Vehicles Department and also the police to prevent the use of such decorated vehicles in public places, as the use of such vehicles in public places causes distraction to other road users, especially the drivers of other vehicles, thereby causing a threat to the safety of passengers in that vehicle and also other road users.
The KSRTC used to provide around less than 1,000 buses in phases during the Mandala-Makaravilakku festival season to ensure seamless services between various parts of the State and Sabarimala, including the Nilakkal-Pamba chain service. Not all the buses are decorated; only a section of buses hired by various groups for the pilgrimage were mainly elaborately decorated by them, said sources in the KSRTC. Normally, the KSRTC staff would not indulge in such practices, but the MVD authorities could impose penalty on KSRTC for such decorations, they said.
