Why are people on buses suffering spinal injuries?

PUNE: It will be a while before Anjum Siddiqui walks again.

On February 16, the 48-year-old Kondhwa resident was on her way to Pune station, on board one of PMPML’s new electric buses, when the driver went over an unmarked speedbreaker at speed. Siddiqui, violently tossed from her seat, suffered a crushed vertebrae and now, according to her doctors, will be bedridden for at least three months. Even then, it’s unclear if she’ll ever be fit again.

“It’s difficult to say if she will completely recover. She will go on to need a lot of physiotherapy,” said Dr Shoaib Shaikh, an orthopaedic surgeon at Camp’s Modern Hospital, where Anjum is being treated. Dr Shaikh said they’re doing their best. “But even after recovery, she will have pain and may not be able to move as freely as she used to before the incident. ”

This is not the first time a bus passenger in Pune has been left Iwith severe injuries to the spine — the result of bad roads and bad driving.

On August 16 last year, 54-yearold Yashwant Shankar Taware, suffered a serious backbone injury when he fell off his seat after the state transport bus he was in went over a speedbreaker near the Wadia Bungalow. Taware would die of injuries 15 days later.

In June 2022, 65-year-old Govind D injured his spine when a PMPML bus violently went over a speedbreaker near Dighi, along the Pune-Alandi Road. And in November 2021, 65-year-old PMPML passenger Raju Motiram Chinchwadkar suffered a spinal injury when his bus went over a speedbreaker in front of Katraj zoo.

These are the incidents that have been reported. Commuters said they fear there may be more as transport authorities still haven’t fixed certain basic infrastructural issues. “PMPML officials should ideally start using buses for their commutes. Only then will they realise the plight ofpassengers,” said 59-year-old Anand Shastri, who, up until a few months ago, was a regular on PMPML buses. “I used to travel along Paud Road, which has several speedbreakers. Some drivers are careful. But the seats are extremely uncomfortable and the ride is bumpy. I stopped using public transport the day I started experiencing severe back pain,” Shastri said.

PMPML BOSS BLAMES E-BUSES
PMPML officials did not have clear answers to why their passengers were ending up with back injuries. However, the transport body’s chairman and managing director Om Prakash Bakoria said electric buses were to blame for the string of incidents. “These buses are the problem. They have a faster pick-up compared to diesel vehicles. Drivers of these buses have been asked to control their speed. All driversneed to be careful,” Bakoria said.

The PMPML currently has 458 e-buses, all operated by one private contractor who also hires drivers. The only PMPML employee on these contract buses is the conductor. The drivers hired by the contractor must have the right certification before they can operate the e-buses. However, PMPML lacks a system that can monitor their driving, and speeds of buses, in real time.

Transport activists said blaming buses, electric or diesel-powered ones, for passengers’ spinal injuries is flawed logic.

Sanjay Shitole, secretary of the PMP Pravasi Manch, said: “Up until reports of these accidents began to emerge, the PMPML was widely publicising the advantages of electric buses. And now, all of a sudden, these vehicles are the villains? How can we blame buses? Can’t the PMPML see that drivers are the problem? After all, it’s a human who is behind the wheel. ”

Prakash Kadam, a daily commuter said, rash driving remains a key problem area for PMPML.
“Many drivers just drive fast, talk on their phones while behind the wheel and jump signals,” he said.
Amar Verma, a techie who commutes to Kharadi from Baner, said Pune’s public transport should be safe for the elderly.

Verma said: “Some weeks ago, I offered a seat to this elderly person. But even seated, he wasn’t safe because of the way the bus was being driven. These incidents of spinal injuries should be taken more seriously by authorities. Taxpayers have ended up with broken backs. It’s shameful. ”