Nagpur: The private bus that recently met with an accident on Samruddhi Mahamarg near Buldhana in which 25 passengers were charred to death was given the fitness certificate by Regional Transport Office (RTO) nearly nine months after it was tested for roadworthiness, official records show, a media report said.
The private sleeper coach bus (MH-29/BE-1819) rammed into a pole on the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway in Buldhana district on July 1 before hitting a divider and bursting into flames. While 25 passengers were charred to death, eight others, including the driver and his assistant, survived.
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According to the report, as per Amravati RTO’s primary report filed on the day of the accident, the fitness certificate of the bus, registered at Yavatmal RTO in January 2020, was valid up to March 10, 2024. According to RTO officials, its fitness certificate was approved on November 29, 2022, nearly nine months after it was tested for road worthiness on March 10, 2022. An RTO official said that Motor Vehicle Inspector Sachin Nikam made an entry filing details on the national vehicle registry ‘Vahan’ on November19 and verified it the same day. He approved the fitness certificate of the vehicle on November 29, 2022.
The media report further said that the Deputy RTO Dnyaneshwar Hirde, who holds the additional charge of the Yavatmal office, did not respond to specific queries about the fitness certificate of the bus. A transport department spokesperson said that Motor Vehicles Inspectors should approve the fitness certificate within a day or two after a vehicle’s testing is conducted, as per the procedure laid down under rule 62 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
Before the bus’ fitness certificate was renewed, the Aurangabad RTO in August 2022 and Nagpur Rural RTO in October 2022 had issued two challans to it for running with an expired fitness certificate. Records show both challans were promptly settled, which according to activists, raises more questions. “If the bus’ fitness certificate was valid, why did RTOs issue challans to it twice and why would the owner pay such a hefty fine,” asked VK Duggal, a director of NGO ‘3A Road Safety Foundation’. The investigation should answer these questions in the aftermath of the deaths.
