Tourist buses cannot ply on roads without uniform colour code from today

Thiruvananthapuram: Tourist buses which are not colour coded will not be allowed to ply on roads from today, Transport Minister Antony Raju  clarified on Tuesday.

The crackdown against tourist bus operators violating road safety norms follows the recent fatal mishap involving a tourist bus carrying school children in Palakkad's Vadakkencherry.

The state government has mandated that all tourist buses must implement the new stringent guidelines issued.

Tourist buses need to be painted uniformly white with a purple striped border. The time limit for painting the buses which was extended till December was cut short at a high level meeting on Monday.

Meanwhile, tourist bus operators met the Minister on Tuesday to express their discontent in the matter. "Changing the colour code of the bus in a day's time is impractical. We need time at least till the next fitness test. The additional financial burden is difficult to bear," the owners stated. The Minister has however, not yielded to their demands

Vehicles without a GPS tracker will also not be allowed to ply roads from Tuesday. The fine for illegal light and sound systems, and modifications have been raised from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.

Decisions at high-level meet

In the wake of the bus accident that claimed nine lives, including that of five school children, the Kerala government came out with a slew of measures like doubling fines for modifications on buses and saddling RTO officials with responsibility for violations to prevent recurrence of such a mishap.

Kerala Road Transport Minister Antony Raju held a high-level meeting on Monday to discuss measures to prevent such accidents in the future.

The following were the decisions made at the high-level meet:

1. Modifications: Fine doubled from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for making unauthorised modifications on buses and also cancel the certificate of fitness (CF) of such vehicles. The fines would be levied for each of the modifications made on a vehicle and more the number of unauthorised or illegal changes, higher would be the total fine.

2: GPS: Steps are also being taken to cancel CF of stage carriages without an onboard GPS.

3: Action against offenders: Stringent action, including initiation of criminal proceedings, would be taken against the owner of the errant vehicle, its dealer and also the workshop personnel who helped in making the modifications.

4. RTO officials: Road Transport Office (RTO) officials would also be held responsible for any such violation of the law by vehicle owners.

The Minister said there are 86 RTOs in the state and each officer there would be assigned the responsibility of inspecting a specified number of vehicles and if any irregularities are found in a vehicle, the officer to whom it was assigned would also be held responsible.

5. Seizing vehicles: Ongoing operation to seize vehicles violating the law will be intensified.

Vehicles with illegal systems will not be allowed on the road. Speed control systems, extra fittings, unauthorized modifications, brake light, parking light and signal light, among others, will be strictly checked.

These checks would also be carried out at tourist centres where several stage carriages are parked and besides imposition of fines, CFs can stand cancelled and vehicles could be seized there and then irrespective of whether it was scheduled to travel or not.

Apart from vehicle-checks, there would be random inspections jointly by RTO officials and Excise Department to catch those driving under the influence of intoxicating substances.

"Driving licence of such people will be cancelled. The licence would be reinstated only after successfully completing a refresher training at the Institute of Driver Training and Research (IDTR)," Raju said.

6. Uniform colour code: The Minister said a uniform colour code for stage carriages would be strictly implemented from now on and vehicles violating the same would be impounded.

Raju pointed out that even the Kerala High Court during the day directed that from Tuesday no stage carriage which does not conform to the colour code should be permitted to ply on the roads.

7. Road tax: Another major step taken by the government is to cancel the earlier directive of the Transport Commissioner which allowed tourist vehicles registered in other States with all-India Permits to move freely in Kerala.

"From now on, they can run on Kerala roads only if they pay road tax in the State similar to the model adopted by Tamil Nadu. This will come into effect from November 1," the Minister said.

Regarding the Palakkad incident, Raju said that according to the accident report, the high speeding of the bus and gross negligence on the part of the driver were the reasons for the mishap and the government was accepting the findings.

He said that since at the time of the accident the speed governor was illegally modified, which attracts only a fine, it has been decided that the Palakkad Enforcement RTO would lodge a complaint with police against for action against the vehicle owner and the workshop responsible for making the modification.

Raju said that in the instant case, alerts were sent to the vehicle owner twice -- more than an hour before the accident -- that the bus was speeding above limits, but he did nothing.

Therefore, it was decided to put in place a system where exceeding of speed limits by buses would result in an alert being sent to the RTO enforcement officer and the vehicle owner concerned.

(With PTI inputs.)