The deceased, identified as Ram Chandra Sahu, had boarded the bus for his hometown Supaul in Bihar from New Delhi. He was travelling with his wife Vinti Devi (50) and son Vipin (17). Vipin told reporters his father was unwell and choked to death after the bus driver turned off the ignition and the AC. “Around 6.30am, our bus was stopped on NH-27 near Raunahi toll plaza. After 25 minutes of stoppage, we got to know that the RTO was conducting a checking drive. While the bus remained stranded for hours, my father choked to death,” said an inconsolable Vipin.
When other passengers learnt of the death, they got down and staged a protest, which ended after the police intervened. Another death allegedly took place in another bus that got stuck in the same queue for a fitness test, but the same was not confirmed by officials.
Transport Commissioner, CB Singh, said that such drives to check private buses was a routine process.
“A probe has revealed that the bus had no fitness certificates and papers. We had given an opportunity to the passengers to alight and board the UPSRTC buses, but they remained adamant about not getting down,” he said. While denying reports of buses remaining stranded in the jam for three hours, the officer said that they were asked to leave after the checking was over.
ARTO Ayodhya Praveen Kumar, who was conducting the drive, said that it was a routine exercise to check the fitness of private buses plying on long routes. On being questioned about another death due to the checking drive, the officer said that he was aware of only one such case. Circle officer, Sadar, Sandeep Kumar Singh, said no complaint had been filed by the victim’s kin. The family was waiting for Sahu’s elder son to come from Delhi to lodge a complaint.
window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {}; var TimesApps = window.TimesApps; TimesApps.toiPlusEvents = function(config) { var isConfigAvailable = "toiplus_site_settings" in f && "isFBCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings && "isGoogleCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings; var isPrimeUser = window.isPrime; if (isConfigAvailable && !isPrimeUser) { loadGtagEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isFBCampaignActive); } else { var JarvisUrl=" window.getFromClient(JarvisUrl, function(config){ if (config) { loadGtagEvents(config?.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(config?.isFBCampaignActive); } }) } }; })( window, document, 'script', );
