DC Edit | Safety Checks Vital For All AC Buses
While the fires reportedly originated in the air-conditioning units, the response of the bus crews made a difference. Survivors of the Delhi bus fire alleged that they had drawn the crew’s attention to a burning smell before the fire spread, but the crew paid no heed
India has seen two air-conditioned sleeper buses catch fire within 12 hours of each other in two states — Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Nine people died when a bus travelling from Delhi to Mahoba caught fire near Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh late on September 23, while everyone on board a bus in Pune escaped unhurt when it caught fire early on September 24.
While the fires reportedly originated in the air-conditioning units, the response of the bus crews made a difference. Survivors of the Delhi bus fire alleged that they had drawn the crew’s attention to a burning smell before the fire spread, but the crew paid no heed. On the Pune bus, however, an attentive conductor noticed smoke and alerted the driver, who promptly pulled over to the left side of the road, allowing all passengers to escape.
The three crew members of the Delhi bus were arrested. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences and announced ex-gratia payments to the victims’ families. But does the responsibility of the state and Central governments end with perfunctory condolences and paltry compensation? Who should take responsibility for hiring crew members who could say to passengers, “If you want to die, die then. We won’t stop the bus”?
While bus owners may be blamed for hiring the wrong people, officials in all states are also at fault for lax regulation. Many sleeper buses are not originally manufactured for that purpose. Because of high demand for sleeper buses on long journeys and a shortage of trains, many operators purchase seater buses and retrofit them as sleeper coaches. To save costs, operators may omit factory-grade multiplex wiring and proper circuit breakers, leaving the buses more susceptible to fires. The Centre should, therefore, order an annual electric safety audit of all AC buses in India and defaulting buses should be confiscated.
