Bus driver sans licence held after Gariahat accident

KOLKATA: Police arrested two bus drivers for allegedly racing with each other at the busy Gariahat Road-Swinhoe Street Crossing and injuring a pedestrian, who was trying to cross the road on Thursday morning.
“When we arrested one of the drivers, we found he did not even have a valid licence. We have charged him with attempt to culpable homicide not amounting to murder along with other sections.We have taken him in to police custody till September 5 and will question him on how he has managed to drive on the road till now,” said Ajoy Prasad, DC (southeast).
“The victim, Tushar Purakait (32), a resident of Usthi in
South 24 Parganas, was crossing the road at the Gariahat Road and Swinhoe Street intersection around 7.40am. At this time, one of the two buses of route 45 (Garia-Airport) that were coming from the same direction — from north to south — and competing against each other hit him.
“The drivers were trying to overtake illegally and one bus — bearing registration number WB 25H 9067 — hit Purkait. As a result, the victim received injuries on his head and later treated at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan Hospital,” said an investigating officer, adding that Purkait was later discharged from the hospital.
“As a security step, police are now asking all bus unions to provide traffic guards with names of their drivers after duly verifying them from police. We will also ask each route starter to provide us a list of drivers plying their buses on a particular day. Yet this accidents highlight the loopholes,” said an officer.
“There are several bus unions which operate on multiple routes like route 1, 12 or
18. No one in police really knows which driver for example is driving a bus on route 18A on a particular day and then shifting to 18B/1 the very next day. Then there are days when certain drivers are put off the roster. It becomes difficult to trace which driver is driving when an accident takes place. As such, it is very important to know what each driver is up to,” explained a senior officer at Lalbazar.
While dearth of experienced drivers has already crippled operations of private buses in the city, this incident kept cops on toes as it highlighted how some drivers are driving without papers.