New Delhi: October 8, 2007 – Even though seven people were crushed by a Blueline bus in Delhi on Sunday, the state government has shown its inability to eliminate the Blueline Buses, since they have no CNG alternative to replace them.

However, the Delhi Govt. announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each for the families of the deceased and at the same time Delhi Transport Minister Haroon Yosuf has ordered an inquiry into the accident.

The incident had taken place in the Badarpur area when the bus blindly rammed into people crossing the road. The passers – by drove the driver out of his seat and thrashed him, causing a long traffic jam.

The police has admitted that the bus was running much over the speed limit and they found speed governor being tampered with.

The Transport Minister said that manipulation of the speed governors by Bus Operators was saddening and further said that each bus operator comes up with a new way of tampering the speed governors, which means that the govt. has no fool-proof way to give protection to innocent lives in Delhi. Is it an official license to kill the innocent people on the road? (IR Summary).

News :

Just a couple of months ago, the government in a much-publicized campaign had put mechanical devices or speed governor on all bluelines, including today's killer bus.

The government on Sunday admitted that it was not a fool-proof way of saving lives. Meanwhile, the chief minister's response to Sunday's accident has ruffled quite some feathers.

''When you cross the road, you should see left and right. For the past two months we have been educating people to walk carefully,'' said Shiela Dikshit, Chief Minister, Delhi.

In what comes as supreme irony, ''I'd rather walk than take a blueline,'' was what Shiela Dikshit had said in July, when she had contemplated banning bluelines altogether after a series of deaths as per NDTV.

The Delhi government has said it is not possible to arrange alternative CNG buses, so it can't eliminate the Blueline bus service.

Acting tough against the killer buses, however, the government has said that any bus involved in any accident will lose its permit without a show-cause notice.