Hazra accident: Private bus has 259 cases

KOLKATA: The private bus plying between Botanical Garden and Barasat that was involved in a fatal accident on Thursday has 259 pending cases against it. Of them, 220 had reached court due to non-payment of challans. The rest of the cases were citation cases.
The government bus records were not available, but the Kolkata Police fatal squad has written to West Bengal Transport Corporation to ascertain if the driver - who had primarily acted negligently while trying to overtake the private bus - has a history of rash driving.
Kolkata Traffic Police officers said though private buses continue to be major killers on roads, the menace of state buses has been growing since the end of the pandemic. "In 2021, government buses were involved in four deaths and 21 accidents compared to 39 deaths and 185 overall accidents of private buses. This year, government buses have already killed five persons," an officer said.
Cops had earlier proposed to the transport department to make a police NOC necessary for buses to ply.
"In light of the findings from the Hazra accident, we will pursue the proposal again," said an officer.