No passengers to be allowed on rooftops of buses in Nadia

No passengers should climb onto the roof of any bus while it is on the move, was the decision taken by the district administration of Nadia following incidents of road accidents due to such malpractices.

The district magistrate of Nadia, Sumit Gupta, recently called a meeting with the bus owners' association and warned them to stop people from climbing atop buses. The bus owners' association in turn assured the district magistrate that the orders would be followed.

"No passengers will be allowed to climb on the rooftop of a running bus. Such things proved dangerous in earlier cases. I have informed the bus owners not to allow people on the roof of any running bus," said the district magistrate.

"Police will increase the vigilance over such issues too. The bus owners, the drivers and passengers need awareness and we can find a solution," said the Superintendent of Police, Nadia, Sheesh Ram Jhajharia.

Meanwhile, the bus owners' association started a campaign against climbing onto the rooftops of running buses. "We have started a campaign in all the big and important bus terminuses. Our members reached Krishnagar Old Bus Stand, Karimpur Bus Stand and Hridoypur Bus Stand to spread awareness among the passengers and conveyed the message of the district administration," said Ashok Ghosh, the secretary of the bus owners' association.

The district administration also instructed that the drivers of the buses should carry their licenses along with other important papers. This apart, bus drivers should not stop their vehicles in the middle of the road or away from the bus stoppages to take extra passengers.

"We circulated the message of the district administration among our drivers and their helpers to not allow passengers to mount the rooftops of the buses. We cannot stop police to arrest them or seize their vehicles if they continue to do the same," said Amit Kumar Sigha Roy, president of the bus owners' association.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had launched a state-wide awareness campaign 'Safe Drive, Save Live' to curb road accident cases. The campaigners spread the message in all the districts, towns and in Kolkata.