By IANS
New Delhi : Even as the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi government to draw up within four weeks a phase-out plan for the ‘killer’ Blueline buses, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Monday appealed to the people and the media not to “pressurise” her on the issue.
A day after seven people were mowed down in south Delhi by a rampaging Blueline and eight injured, an irritated Dikshit told reporters after a meeting with officials: “We are concerned over the issue. Every one is asking me about the problem but no one is suggesting a solution. Please don’t pressurise me over the Blueline bus problem.”
The statement came as a surprise as the chief minister had earlier said that she would “prefer to walk rather than commute on a Blueline bus”.
Dikshit expressed her helplessness on the issue after a meeting Delhi Lt. Gov. Tejendra Khanna called Monday evening to take stock of the privately operated Blueline buses. Delhi Chief Secretary R. Narayanswamy, Delhi Police chief Y.S. Dadwal, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Qamar Ahmed and senior transport department officials were present at the meeting.
The Delhi High Court, taking exception to the Blueline accidents, told the government to inform it about the phase-out plan in four weeks.
Summoning the government and private operators for an urgent hearing on the issue, a bench of justices Mukul Mudgal and Reva Khetrapal said: “It’s becoming shocking day by day and cannot get worse than this.”
“The government has to tell the court about the plan else the court has said it will ask the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Rail India Technical Economic Services Ltd (RITES) to draw a plan to phase out these rogue buses,” Anup Bhambani, amicus curiae appointed by the court, told IANS. The government has to reply on Thursday.
The Blueline buses have claimed 94 lives this year, including seven on Sunday.
“Earlier, the court had given the government time till Dec 15 but after the Sunday accident, it directed (the government) to submit a detailed phase-out plan for privately-owned Blueline buses within four weeks from today,” said Anup Bhambani.
“The court, however, has given clear instructions that the phase-out should not affect the commuters. For every cancellation of Blueline bus permits, there should be a replacement,” Bhambani added.
The court has also asked the state government to furnish details of Blueline buses being owned and operated by city legislators and parliamentarians.
After a separate meeting with Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf, Dikshit said that her government would furnish a status report on Blueline buses on Thursday.
After meeting the chief minister and senior government officials, Lt. Gov. Khanna said: “Innocent people are losing their lives everyday and it is a major problem. I have said it earlier that the management of these buses should be handed over to corporates.”
“I will reiterate that the government may also think of handing over the management to the military,” he said. Khanna even suggested that Raman Patel, who has successfully worked on improving traffic in Chicago, the US, could be roped in to help the city improve its traffic management.
In the wake of Sunday’s accident, which sparked mob fury, the Delhi Police unleashed a renewed drive to curb the growing fatalities on the capital roads.
So far Delhi police have arrested 11 people on charges of rioting and damaging public property. The bodies of those killed in the accident who hailed from Delhi were cremated on Monday while those who belonged to Ballabhgarh, Haryana, were sent to their homes after the post mortem.
Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said: “From now on, the Blueline bus drivers found driving rashly will be charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides the Motor Vehicles Act. The buses will be impounded too.”
“In the near future, we are going to deploy the full strength of traffic police in the night to check all the heavy vehicles entering Delhi,” he said, adding that over 50 Police Control Room (PCR) vans with specially trained officials will patrol city roads.
“The officials will immediately prosecute errant drivers and if required the buses will be impounded,” Bhagat told IANS.
Bhagat said the police were also trying to seize those buses running without permits on the capital’s roads. According to data with the police department, they have prosecuted Blueline buses 74,355 times this year and impounded them on 9,268 occasions. At least 1,360 drivers have been arrested in the last 10 months for traffic violation.