By IANS
New Delhi : With no respite from the "killer" Blueline buses, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Friday asked private bus operators to steer clear of city roads on the weekend and use the time to improve their infrastructure.
"The Blueline bus operators have been asked not to run buses on the city roads this Saturday and Sunday. They have been strictly told to improve the conditions of their buses and install speed governors," said an official at the chief minister's office.
"If the bus operators fail to comply with orders, stringent action will be taken against them," he added.
He said the decision was taken at a high level meeting chaired by the chief minister at her residence in the wake of rising accidents involving the private Blueline buses that have become infamous for being reckless.
Asked about the inconvenience the absence of the buses would cause to thousands of commuters, the official said the government would rope in school buses to minimise problems.
Earlier Dikshit had said she would prefer walking rather than taking a Blueline. She had also announced that the 4,200-odd Blueline buses would be phased out by 2010.
Bluelines have killed 64 people so far this year and injured at least 144. In the last five days, these buses have mowed down three people. The state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses too have been responsible for 25 deaths this year till the end of June.
In the last accident Thursday, a Blueline bus on Route No. 254 between Nangloi and Babarpur crushed a 40-year-old man under its wheels near the Peeragarhi bus stand in west Delhi while he was boarding another bus for his hometown in Haryana.