Nitin Gadkari seeks action for violation of sleeper bus body building, announces rollout of V2V safety tech

NEW DELHI: Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said he has asked state govts to investigate “corruption”, irregularities and flouting of norms by sleeper bus body builders and authorities registering such vehicles and issuing fitness certificates.Talking about fire incidents in sleeper buses that have claimed 145 lives in three months, including in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, Gadkari said he has asked the states concerned to take exemplary action against those responsible. The minister also said that the govt is working to introduce vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology using free spectrum, beginning with cars, to prevent road accidents. Under the V2V technology, drivers would be alerted about speed, location, acceleration, vehicles in blind spots and braking of other vehicles in real-time in their vicinity. This will allow drivers to take preventive action.Flagging the issue of bus fires, Gadkari said, “We have found that there was no compliance of norms in building sleeper buses. It has also come to our notice that there was corruption at different levels. People have pasted logos of reputed brands fraudulently. I have gone through the presentations on such bus fire accidents. In six incidents, we lost 145 lives. I have written to Rajasthan and other state govts to investigate the irregularities and take strict action against those responsible.”He said the govt has decided that sleeper coach buses will only be manufactured by automobile companies or facilities accredited by the Centre. Existing sleeper coach buses will have to be retrofitted with fire detection systems, emergency exits with hammers, emergency lighting, and driver drowsiness indicators, Gadkari added.Separately, road transport secretary V Umashankar has written to chief secretaries to address the problem and fix responsibilities as well. Gadkari and Umashankar were addressing reporters after a two-day meeting on transport and road safety related issues with states.On the introduction of V2V communication technology, Gadkari said the telecom department (DoT) has agreed in-principle for the use of 30 MHz (5.875-5.905 GHz) for V2V purposes — the wireless technology that will allow vehicles to communicate directly. For example, if a car brakes, nearby vehicles will get alerts to slow down before seeing it and prevent a crash.Umashankar said they are confident of putting the system, including standards, in place by this year-end. “To begin with, this feature — an on board unit (OBU), costing around Rs 4,000 — will be voluntary in news cars. Subsequently, existing cars can go for retrofitment and we plan to make it mandatory in cars, trucks, buses and other bigger vehicles,” he said.