By IANS
New Delhi : The government Thursday informed the Delhi High court that a scheme has been worked out to phase out by June 2009 most of the private Blueline buses, which have killed more than 100 people in road accidents this year.
In an affidavit, the Delhi government said it had chalked out a scheme to rope in corporate and cooperative bodies to ply private buses.
“Each of the corporate or cooperative sector (entity) would be given a cluster of routes to minimise the competition, which is the main reason of accidents on the roads,” said the affidavit filed by Principal Secretary cum Transport Commissioner D.M. Spolia.
The new scheme would reduce the on-route competition that results in rash driving and over-speeding, causing fatal accidents, he said. The scheme would be introduced at the earliest.
After June 2009, only 1,000 out of the 4,000-odd private buses would have a license and new licences would be given to the corporate and cooperative sectors.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) would be roped in to launch a unified ticketing system for a disciplined and smooth transport system.
The buses would be regulated by deploying special staff and the responsibility would be fixed on the corporate and cooperative license holders.
Regulated speed limits and timetables will minimise the accidents on the roads, the government said.
The high court had asked the government to file a scheme for phasing out of the private buses, which had been creating havoc on the capital’s road.
A bench headed by Justices Mukul Mudgal and Reva Khetrapal termed the growing incidents of fatal accidents as “shocking”.
“It’s becoming shocking day by day and cannot get worse than this,” the bench said.