17 MTC staff suspended for using mobile phones on duty

Times of India: Chennai: Monday, June 03, 2019.

Amidst increasing road accidents in Chennai, state-owned Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has suspended 17 employees (14 drivers and 3 conductors) in three months for using mobile phones on duty.

Of this, a handful of incidents were reported along accident-prone zones in the city including Kamarajar Salai (Marina Beach), Royapettah hospital and Velachery junctions.

Official data, sourced through RTI, says that around 370 MTC drivers were pulled up in the last four years for using mobile phones while driving, a traffic violation categorised as one of the five major offences in 2014 by the Supreme Court-appointed committee on road safety.

Road safety experts say MTC does not take stringent action against repeat offenders and instead just suspends them from service for a short while, after which they get back to work. MTC's response to a RTI query on this topic confirmed this was the practice.

"The state transport department suspends driving licences of motorists if they were caught for the said offence thrice. But the same doesn't apply for MTC drivers. Why the double standards," asked a senior official from the department, requesting anonymity.

One of the suspended drivers from Aynavaram depot, said, "It is human tendency to look at our mobile phones. To avoid this, most of us hand over our phones to the bus conductors. Some tend to use it in case of an important call from the family or friends. So cancelling licence is a bit harsh".

The training centre at Chrompet seldom creates awareness among trainee drivers on these lines.

Instead they are trained only on how to reduce fuel consumption and increase ticket sales, said K Anbalagan from SVS-AAP Transport Union, who also filed the said RTI petition.

Responding to it, a senior official from MTC said that they take complaints from passengers seriously.

"Besides complaints, regular checks are done by our checking inspectors, stationed at various points in the city. Charges are framed after checking phone records of the driver concerned to ensure they match with the complainants' claims," the official added.