SRINAGAR : Failure of Traffic department to check overloading in the buses is taking a heavy toll on the passengers.
Government teacher Abdul Majeed said, “Authorities are nowhere on the ground. It is not only during peak hours but throughout the day that there is overloading. Drivers make frequent stops until their buses are fully overloaded and thereafter they run their buses very slowly so that 10 minutes distance is covered in 30 minutes”.
One of the girl student said “We are suffering from the overloading. Drivers do not run the buses till they overload them, and ironically there is no check for overloading.”
Another student said “There is no check for these issues, the government has failed to streamline traffic management in the city.” They added, “The buses don’t run till they are overcrowded. If all the seats in the buses are booked and the passengers would tell the driver to leave”.
According to the Motor Vehicles Act, “if Matador /Mini Bus is found plying overloaded with passengers (in excess of the capacity mentioned in the Registration Certificate), then the driver should be given a challan u/s 39/192 and 66/192 A of the M.V Act,1988.”
Last year Jammu and Kashmir High Court (HC) has directed the authorities to check overloading in minibuses plying on city routes.
In its directions issued in a public interest litigation (PIL) on easing of traffic congestion in the city, a division bench of the HC has directed the traffic authorities in Srinagar to constitute special squads to keep a check on the overloading in buses. (PTK)
