Alert driver avoids mishap

AURANGABAD: A major mishap was avoided on Wednesday morning, when an alert driver of a private bus managed to stop the vehicle after its brakes failed at the busy Baba petrol pump signal. The bus was carrying 65 students of Urdu High School Jalna, 60 km from here, for a picnic to Bibi ka Maqbara and Paithan.
Bus driver Abdul Razak told TOI, "We started from Jalna around 9 am, and reached the Baba petrol pump around 10.30 am.At the signal I realized that brakes of the bus have failed. So, I took a turn towards the railway station road."
The teachers and the students in the bus started crying for help and many people on the road followed the bus.
Abdul Mateen, a teacher, said: "We are thankful to god and also to the presence of mind of the bus driver, who managed to avoid colliding with other vehicles or hitting pedestrians, and took the bus to the Karnapura ground, where two youths put a couple of stones in front of the tyres and the bus finally stopped."
The teachers also said that the traffic police, instead of appreciating the driver, have seized his licence. When contacted, the police refused to comment on the issue. tnn