By IANS
New Delhi : A youngster died after a road accident due to negligent driving by a Blueline bus driver, taking the toll of those killed by the capital’s privately operated buses to 76 this year.
The accident occurred at around 1.00 p.m. when a speeding bus, plying on Route No 78, hit a pedestrian near the Richie Rich restaurant in Shalimar Bagh area of northwest Delhi. The bus was going from Wajirpur area to Azadpur.
Police said the victim, yet to be identified, appeared to be in the early 20s.
“He was rushed to the nearby Sunder Lal Jain Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. We are trying to ascertain his identity as no identity-related documents were recovered from him,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest Delhi) Manish Aggarwal said.
“We have registered a case of negligence against the absconding bus driver and the killer bus has been impounded,” he added.
There are more than 4,000 Blueline buses in the capital, forming a crucial part of its public transport system. The “killer buses” had claimed nearly 100 lives last year.
On Sunday, two people had suffered critical injuries, when a Blueline bus hit their motorbike from behind near Tughlak Road in New Delhi area. They were admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
When the 2007 death toll on account of accidents involving Blueline buses had touched 65 a month ago, the Delhi High Court had directed civic authorities to nab bus owners if their drivers failed to obey traffic rules.
The court had banned overtaking by private buses on Delhi roads, set the maximum speed limit at 40 km per hour, and directed that licences of errant drivers be impounded if they were involved in any fatal accident.
This had led to the traffic police prosecuting owners/drivers of 812 Blueline buses between July 21 and Aug 1.
“Cases of tampering with the speed governor and driving beyond 40 km per hour prima facie violates the Supreme Court order and would draw contempt of court proceedings,” the court had said in another order last week.
The state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) was also asked to purchase 3,000 buses to phase out the private buses by 2012.