bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

DELHI'S dangerous private buses have received a new lease of life on the eve of a police crackdown aimed at reducing the city's rising road toll.

  City Transport Minister Rajinder Gupta, accused by critics of buckling under pressure from privately run Blueline bus operators, announced the apparently contradictory measures this week.

  Instead of their buses being impounded if involved in a fatal accident, operators will have to pay a fine of 15,000 rupees (HK$3,240).

  Private buses were responsible for nearly a quarter of the 1,981 road deaths in New Delhi last year.

  Private bus operators have been lobbying the Government to relax rules imposed in response to public anger at drivers, who speed and break every rule in the book to get as many fares as they can.

  Mr Gupta justified his action by saying the number of fatalities caused by private buses had declined sharply.

  'We hope the revised policy will force them to change their attitudes and behaviour,' he said.

  In 1996, police issued more than 1.2 million tickets to Blueline bus drivers for traffic violations, impounded 4,550 buses and cancelled 2,770 licences.

  New Delhi's public transport system was paralysed in December when bus drivers went on strike to protest against compulsory roadworthiness tests. Of the 400 buses forced to undergo the tests, only one was passed, before the Government was forced to abandon the initiative.

  The national capital has more vehicles and more fatalities than India's other three largest cities, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, combined.

  There are 2.6 million vehicles on New Delhi's roads, with twice as many motorcycles as cars. New Delhi's drivers are also among the worst in India, with 241,828 booked in the first two months of the year.

  The city also suffers from an acute shortage of traffic police. They total around 2,000. However, one quarter are under suspension at any time for taking bribes from motorists. Mr Gupta has vowed from today New Delhi police will get tough with traffic violators and cars which fail emission tests.

  The capital is one of the most polluted cities in the world and vehicles are blamed for contributing most of the thousands of tonnes of pollutants pumped into the air every day.

  Regular police blitzes do not last long enough to modify driver behaviour.



Road toll blitz offers reprieve for Delhi's deadly buses