There have been new revelations in the bus accident case on Samridhi Expressway. According to official records, the fitness certificate was given to the bus after nine months. The RTO personnel termed the delay between the two processes as administrative lapse. As per reports, there are around 67,000 contract carriage settled in Maharashtra. Let us tell you, on July 1, a road accident took place near Buldhana on the Samridhi Expressway. The bus was going from Nagpur to Pune. 25 people had died in the accident.
RTO employees say that strict action should be taken against those responsible for the delay. Fitness is mandatory for all commercial vehicles. That’s why it is very important to improve the system. The accident bus was registered at Yavatmal RTO in January 2020, whose fitness was valid till March 10, 2024.
An RTO official says that motor vehicle inspector Sachin Nikam made an entry on the National Vehicle Registry vehicle on November 19, which was verified by Nikam the same day. He issued the fitness certificate till 29 November 2022. A transport department spokesperson said the motor vehicle inspectors should approve the fitness certificate within a day or two after testing the vehicle, as per the prescribed procedure.
Aurangabad RTO on August 2022 and Nagpur Rural RTO on October 2022 issued two challans for running with expired fitness before fitness renewal. However, Nagpur RTO in-charge Rajabhau Gite says that the fitness of the bus was not valid that day. VK Duggal, director of NGO 3(A) Road Safety Foundation, says why the challans were issued twice even after the fitness of the bus was valid. Why the owner of the bus had to pay the fine. A retired official of the transport department said that ideally fitness should be approved on the same day or within a few days after the test. It was an administrative error.
