Lax maintenance blamed for bus mishaps

CHENNAI: Poor maintenance of the State’s public transport buses has been brought into focus after the driver of the bus that plunged into a gorge near Tiruvarur on Saturday reportedly said the accident had been caused by a fault in the vehicle’s steering wheel.The State Transport Corporation bus was travelling from Nagapattinam to Mannargudi when it met with the accident that left one dead and 20 injured. “I complained about a problem in the steering wheel to the depot officials. Days later, the problem is has not been addressed,” a crew member from Dindigul said on the Corporation’s attitude to maintenance. A log book is available at all bus stations for drivers to jot down problems in the bus after every trip. The supervisor is supposed to attend to the faults and enter remarks. This rarely happens, complained the driver.He added he has often paid for repairs, such as fixing new headlights onto the bus, himself, as authorities failed to do so. “We are vulnerable to accidents when driving without headlights on national highways. Our management is not bothered about safety,” he said.J Lakshmanan, general secretary of AITUC Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation Employees Federation cited  lack of spare parts as another problem. “If a driver reports a technical fault, officials divert him to another route instead of rectifying the problem,” he said. Inadequate technical staff was also a factor impacting maintenance of the fleet, he said.A Transport Corporation official said the number of available technical staff was as per government norms. “Priority is given to brake and steering complaints followed by other problems,” the official added.