Pinjore bus mishap: Locals blame broken roads, poor bus service for mishap

Ravneet Singh

Panchkula, July 8

The injured, who were admitted to the Civil Hospital, Panchkula, and their kin cited potholed roads and overloading of buses due to poor service in the area as reasons for the accident. They said these issues had not been addressed for the past several years.

They said the Haryana Roadways service starts from Dalrog village at 6.30 am and the bus reaches Kalka by 8 am. After that there is no bus service till evening. The students return by bus around 3.30 pm and reach home around 5 pm.

One of the injured, Jannat, a Class IX student, is the eldest of three sisters. Her mother Meena said, “She has been boarding the same bus to commute to her school from our village of Khoi for the past several years. The road in our area is in very bad shape.” The girl said, “Like any other day, there were too many people in the bus today.”

Mamchand, a resident of Khoi village, whose daughter Heena is a Class XII student, said the bus remained overloaded every day. “Students are forced to travel hanging out of the bus daily. In fact, it is the only bus service in our area,” he said.

Reema, another resident of the village, who skipped school today, also complained of rash driving and overspeeding by bus drivers. Her father Karam Singh said the local residents had made repeated requests to the administration and local politicians to provide separate bus service for students, but to no avail.

Deevender, a resident of Dakrog village, who suffered an injury on the arm, said the roads in the area had not been repaired for the past 10 years. “The administration should enhance the bus service and reconstruct roads,” he said.

Ashok Kaushik, GM, Haryana Roadways, Panchkula, said the roadways had decided to ply another bus service in the area from Tuesday. “We are taking this immediate measure. The bus service will run in the morning as well as the evening hours on a permanent basis,” he said.

He said the department had earlier tried to put a normal bus with a capacity of 50 individuals in service in the area, but could not do so due to the narrow roads.

5-member committee to probe accident

Transport Minister Aseem Goel visited Panchkula hospital and checked on the injured. He said a survey of villages in the hilly area would be conducted to ascertain the number of buses required there. He said a five-member committee headed by Additional Director, State Transport, Pradeep Ahlawat had been constituted to investigate the incident. The GM, Haryana Roadways, Panchkula, Ashok Kaushik, has been directed to start two bus trips on the route from Tuesday to prevent overloading.