Sir,
At the time when international community is striving hard to curb pollution, Kathua, Basohli and Bani route and many other routes in the interior parts of our state are proving a haven for the buses which have either outlived their prescribed age or have lost their road worthiness. The condition of these buses is so poor that not to talk of travelling in them one is afraid of even boarding them.
The passengers on board are never sure about reaching the destination safely and in time because these buses are always prone to accidents either due to the breaking of the motion or failure of the brakes. Many times these out dated buses have met accidents and have taken precious lives and caused injuries to many more. Even one hour journey by these buses causes nausea and head ache to the passengers.
In order to hide the outward condition of such buses and make them attractive from out side the owners get them painted in beautiful satrangi colors. It is strange how and from where the owners of these buses arrange kerosene oil in the denominations of thousands of liters easily while the poor consumers who don’t get this cheap fuel more than 5 liters a month. It means that these transporters are hands in glove with the PDS department and law enforcing authorities from where they manage this poor man’s kitchen fuel easily and in abundance. These out dated buses run on the highways giving out black thick volumes of smoke undaunted, unnoticed, and uninterrupted by the traffic police or the departments concerned with environmental hazards while the personal light vehicles are stopped on the highways for the checking of the pollution certificates of their vehicle and in the absence of which they are fined.
The matter has been brought in the notice of the concerned authorities and also been highlighted in the press many times but these officials seem to take no cognizance for the reasons best known to them. It is the high time that the MVD and pollution control department together with the regional transport department act firmly and restrain such vehicles from polluting the environment.
Yours etc….
Shiv Kumar Padha
Basohli
Follow our WhatsApp channel