Hoshangabad bus tragedy : Govt orders FIR against operator, Cong demands medical aid

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh police will register an FIR (first information report) against operator of the ill fated bus, which claimed 18 lives after a fatal mishap near Hoshangabad, on Tuesday. ``We will register a case against the bus operator for not hiring two drivers for a long distance journey’’, state transport minister Bhupendra Singh told TOI.
He said the government has also instructed to cancel licenses of all truckers and drivers who were found guilty of drunken driving. ``In case of normal violation of norms the transport department has been asked to impose heavy fine, four times than the penalty at present. If the violation is serious, license of the driver will be scrapped immediately’, warned the minister.
At least, 18 passengers were killed while 25 other seriously injured when Chhindwara bound bus of a marriage party turned turtle, near Hoshangabad during wee hours on Tuesday. Initial reports suggested that driver of the bus was relatively inexperienced and overtired of the long distance journey. ``Probably he didn’t get sufficient sleep at night which led to the disaster. The bus operators should have provided a substitute during long distance journey’’, said a police officer on spot. District collector Sanket Bhondve also said that prima facie the incident occurred due to negligence of the driver.
When the matter came up during discussion in state assembly, Opposition Congress raised violation of motor vehicle act and poor medical facility provided by the state government in Hoshangabad hospital. Congress MLA Jitu Patwari, Mukesh Nayak, Ramnivas Rawat, Ajay Singh and Bala Bachchan joined the chorus to take immediate step to save life of injured passengers. They stated that injured passengers were not given proper treatment and there were no scanners and machines for investigation.
The MLAs also raised issue of using banned saline water, which was prohibited by the health department after botched-up eye surgery in Barwani. Mukesh Nayak demanded immediate action to save life of five passengers who were critically injured in the mishap and fighting a battle in the hospital.
Assuring best treatment to the injured, state health minister Narottam Mishra said that government will provide all help to the injured passengers. The members also express grief over the deaths and demanded stringent action against the violators.