Twenty-three bus drivers in Delhi have been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 for violations in the last two days since the implementation of bus lane enforcement drive by the State Transport department, officials said on Saturday.
The drive enforces driving discipline in lanes exclusively reserved for buses and heavy vehicles. Heavy vehicles are not allowed to drive on other lanes and other vehicles are also not permitted to use the marked lanes.
“This is about a discipline that will benefit all of us. We are seeing a high degree of compliance on the road and this is for good,” said Ashish Kundra, secretary-cum-commissioner (Transport) told CNN-News18.
As per the official figures, seven drivers on Friday and 16 on Saturday were fined for violating lane discipline respectively. They were penalised with Rs 10,000 each with a warning of prosecution if repeated.
The State Transport Department, in consultation with the Delhi Traffic Police and other stakeholders, had identified 46 major corridors for implementation of the drive. In the first phase for enforcement of lane discipline, the drive was conducted on 15 identified corridors. A total of 138 teams of the transport department are on the road to keep an eye on violations.
“This is a major initiative that is focusing on road safety in the national capital. We know that whenever there is a major shift, we learn and improve gradually. In this case, too, some people will have to reorient their working style and their road behaviour,” said Kundra.
The Public Works Department has begun works on installing signages, and warning signs, marking bus lanes, painting bus boxes (thermoplastic), and removing encroachments, if any, on the selected corridors. The enforcement wing of the transport department, other than the teams on the field, is clubbing the geo-location of the violations and putting records of the violators.
“For private vehicles, currently, we are not putting any fine for wrong lane driving, but if your car is parked in the bus lane, it will be towed away, and you will be penalized,” said Kundra.
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