Malkangiri: In a reckless disregard for safety norms, an overloaded private bus carrying more than 116 migrant labourers was intercepted by Regional Transport Office (RTO) personnel on NH-326 in Odisha's Malkangiri district here today.

The bus named Sri Balaji bearing registration number PY 01 CL 7575 and belonging to Rajdhani Tours and Travels, was heading from Hyderabad to Junagarh (Kalahandi) when RTO officials flagged the vehicle as part of routine inspection. 

This comes barely three days after a passenger bus from Hyderabad to Balangir overturned in Malkangiri's Bijaghati area, leaving around 50 people injured.

As per reports, RTO officials were checking vehicles for overloading and other violations of safety norms when the bus crammed with passengers was detained. When they started scanning the vehicle, they found that over 116 migrant labourers were being ferried breaching the permissible passenger limit. The latter, on questioning, were found to be inter-State workers heading from Hyderabad to their respective homes in Odisha.

Visuals that surfaced on social media showed the vehicle jam-packed with over 10-12 persons occupying a single berth, indicating sheer callousness of the bus owner. It also showed that the passengers paid almost double the price for tickets (Rs 1500) which indicates how the workers were exploited and their lives put at risk just for some extra money. 

On being asked, one of the passengers said he had bought a sleeper class ticket but was forced to accommodate more people by the bus driver. "I took the bus from Hyderabad and had paid Rs 1500 for a sleeper class ticket. But the bus driver pooled in too many passengers last minute and forced many of us to adjust. When I questioned, I was told that the bus was meant for labour service and did not have sleeper class facility," recounted one passenger.

"I was going to Kantabanji. Our contractor paid for our ticket and I am unaware of the recent road mishap. There were 80 of us who had finished working in Hyderabad for six months and were heading home," one of the migrant workers shared.

Another passenger corroborated the claims.

Official sources said following the inspection, the migrant workers were rescued and efforts are on to pull up the bus owner for flouting safety norms and carrying such an overcrammed bus for over 600 km despite the near-fatal mishap a few days back. 

On Monday, a bus also named Balaji had turned turtle while negotiating a steep curve in Bijaghati. Over 50 passengers had sustained serious injuries and had to be hospitalised. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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