Hyderabad: Conducting raids on private bus operators for a few days whenever accidents occur and ignoring their violations later has become allegedly become a routine practice for some Road Transport Authority (RTA) officials in Telangana. Following Friday’s mishap near Kurnool, RTA officials once again launched statewide inspections on Saturday.
Frequent accidents involving private buses are being attributed to negligence by some RTA officials and the rampant collection of ‘mamools’ (bribes) from transport operators. Some higher officials allegedly fix monthly targets for motor vehicle inspectors (MVIs) to collect bribes from private operators. This practice, insiders say, has led to compromised vehicle inspections, falsified fitness certificates and a general breakdown in regulatory oversight.
In one recent case, a Wardhannapet MVI was duped by a gang impersonators ACB officials, who extorted Rs 12 lakh from him under the pretext of investigating his involvement in mamool collection. Realising he had been cheated, the MVI later lodged a police complaint.
Private Travels Victims Association president Sudhakar alleged that operators had formed a powerful mafia that offers around `100 crore in mamools to RTA and other officials every month, while earning close to Rs 1,000 crore. He said the operations of private bus companies severely affect the profitability of TGSRTC. Sudhakar also drew parallels between the Palem tragedy, in which 45 passengers died after a bus caught fire, and the recent Kurnool accident, noting that both incidents were the result of RTA negligence.
“There are no regular checks, no proper records and many operators run multiple buses under a single registration number,” Sudhakar said. “A bus with the same registration number can be seen operating from both Vijayawada and Hyderabad at the same time, but officials turn a blind eye.”
Routine inspections, such as those conducted for school buses before the academic year, are irregular, and fitness checks are often limited to paperwork. After the government dismantled several checkpoints, monitoring became even more difficult. The ACB has repeatedly raided these posts based on complaints that RTA officers allowed private agents to collect bribes. About 20 percent of ACB’s annual corruption cases reportedly involve RTA officials.
Transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the government alone cannot be blamed for the violations, as most private buses operate interstate services. Citing the Vemuri Kaveri bus mishap, he noted that the bus was registered in Odisha and was en route from Hyderabad to Bengaluru via Andhra Pradesh. “If we conduct daily checks, we are accused of harassment; if we don’t, we are blamed for negligence,” the minister said.
Prabhakar said that Telangana would soon convene a meeting of transport ministers and commissioners of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to improve inter-state coordination and enhance safety mechanisms. The state government plans to introduce a digital, token-based speed regulation system that records departure and arrival times, penalising buses that reach their destinations earlier than expected for overspeeding.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
