In Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, the brakes of a bus full of passengers failed. The driver acted intelligently, saving the lives of approximately 45 passengers when the brakes failed after a pressure pipe burst.
School students, working professionals and daily wage earners who had set out on their journey, were brought back from the jaws of death on Monday due to the presence of mind of the driver. The main reason for this is emerging to be the lack of timely repair of the dilapidated buses of HRTC. When the brakes of the bus failed after the pressure pipe of the bus burst, the driver acted with presence of mind and applied the hand brake and downshifted the gear to save the lives of around 45 passengers and when he could not see any means of escape, he was forced to hit the bus against the hill.
Fortunately, the bus didn’t lose control and overturn on the road after colliding with the hill. Overall, the HRTC Chamba depot’s negligence could prove fatal for the depot and precious lives. Day: Monday. Time: 8:45 AM. Location: Ghumla. As usual, the Agahar-Jumhar-Luddu-Chamba bus is scheduled to depart Agahar for Chamba at 8:00 AM. Today, the bus is returning to Chamba 15 minutes late.
School children travelling in the bus are worried about not reaching school on time, working people and daily wage earners are also angry about the delay in running of the bus. But, the bus is ready to run on the route. The bus, while travelling on its scheduled route, reached a place called Ghum at 8:45 in the morning. Suddenly, the pressure pipe burst in the bus with a loud bang. Sensing the bursting of the pressure pipe, the driver tried to apply brakes. But, the driver was left sweating when the brakes did not work. Some passengers started screaming due to the loud noise coming from the bus.
The driver and conductor tried to calm the passengers by telling them that there was a technical problem in the bus and asked them to remain calm. The driver told the passengers that the brakes of the bus were not working and applied the hand brake of the bus, along with that, putting down the gear, he slowly moved the bus towards the hill and hit the hill. After hitting the hill, the bus stopped there itself. Fortunately, the bus did not overturn on the road. The driver asked the passengers to get off the bus. On which the passengers came out one by one cursing the driver.
After the passengers got off the bus, the driver asked the conductor to place a stone under the tire. Only then did the driver get off. The driver told the passengers that the bus’s brakes had failed. He only hit the hill to prevent the bus from going off the road, saving lives. As a result, the passengers were unharmed. If the bus had lost balance and gone off the road, there could have been significant loss of life and property.
Meanwhile, passengers Rohit Kumar, Manohar Singh, Manjeet Sharma, Pawan Kumar, and Rakesh Kumar said that buses are being sent and operated late on the route every day. Furthermore, every third day the bus breaks down mid-way. Written complaints have been made to the management several times to have the buses repaired and sent back on the route. Despite this, all rules are being ignored. On Monday, after the bus’s brakes failed, there was no driver, scooter rider, bike rider, or pedestrian on the route. Otherwise, there could have been loss of life and property.
The brakes of a bus on the Agahar-Jumhar-Luddu-Chamba route also failed in 2022. The driver, however, showed presence of mind and prevented an accident by crashing the bus into a roadside tree near the Chamunda Temple.
So far, HRTC buses have broken down on these routes: Chamba-Bat, Chamba-Agahar, Utip, Chamba-Jammuhar, Chamba-Shimla, Chamba-Chuwari, Chamba-Pathankot, Chamba-Bhadela, Dalhousie-Chakottar, Chamba-Kihar, Chamba-Dehradun, Chamba-Kiri, Chamba-Panel, Chamba-Delhi, Chamba-Pukhri, and Dalhousie-Manglera.
How many buses and how many services they provide?
The Chamba depot has a total of 100 buses and 200 routes. Of these, 10 buses are stationed in the workshop, while 90 are in service. These buses also operate on local routes after returning from long routes.
HRTC DDM Shugal Singh said the matter has come to his attention. A burst pressure pipe caused this situation. The driver showed prudence. The bus has been repaired and brought back to the workshop.
