Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Mar 12: In an incident which horrified the passengers of two buses, the bus drivers raced their buses as if they were in a car race, and stopped only after the driver of one of these buses brushed his vehicle against the other. This incident happened on Friday March 11 on Vittal-Salethur road.

The people are extremely angry at the way the lives of the passengers were exposed to danger by these two drivers. They have demanded for stern action against the erring buses’ staff and owners.

As these two buses were vying with each other and driving at breakneck speed, the other vehicles on the road also turned jittery. In order to stop the other bus from moving ahead, the driver of another bus came at high speed from behind and caused his bus to bang into the other bus. Passengers in both the buses raised an alarm at this as they were overtaken with fear for their lives. Luckily, the buses were damaged in the incident and the passengers escaped unhurt. Shocked passengers then took other vehicles to reach their destinations.

For the last one year tough competition has been witnessed frequently in the Vittal-Salethur-Mudipu-Mangaluru section. Sometime back, due to cut throat competition, an accident had happened at Moorakaje within the limits of Vittal police station, and angry locals had blocked the buses by parking their personal vehicles across the road till the policemen came.

Due to the said incident, the buses got stranded in the middle of the road and other vehicles had to struggle to pass the spot.

The two buses had about 50 passengers. Vittal police visited the spot and took the buses into their possession. A case of reckless and negligent driving has been filed. Deputy commissioner of transport in Mangaluru, Ramesh Varnekar, assured to keep an eye on private buses posing risk to people's lives and stressed that the erring buses will face strict action.