Crackdown on buses with curtains

Buses with tinted glasses or curtains on windows will be on the radar of the Delhi police from next week.

Buses with tinted glasses or curtains on windows will be on the radar of the Delhi police from next week.

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The Delhi police said they would start cracking down on such buses after a 23-year-old woman was gangraped in one such moving bus on Sunday night in the Capital.

The police have prosecuted over 2.5 lakh cars for using solar films on glasses till November this year, but they did not book any bus for the same offence. On Tuesday, the police said they would come down heavily on buses plying with either tinted glasses or curtains on windows.

“We will start prosecuting all buses that have solar films or curtains on their windows from Monday onwards,” said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic). The action would follow an advisory, he said.

Though the Motor Vehicles Act does not specify penalty on bus owners for using curtains in vehicles, the police have decided to book owners/ drivers for using curtains, as they, too, like solar films, obstruct visibility.

The Motor Vehicles Act 1988 has laid down certain standards to be maintained in all vehicles. Vehicle owners should see to it that the visual transmission of light is not less than 70% through the windscreen and rear window and 50% for side windows.

Around 12,000 registered buses, including 5,800 DTC and 2,000 chartered ones, ply in the city. The traffic police said among all kinds of buses, chartered buses had violated norms the maximum number of time. A total of 17,658 cases have been registered against chartered buses till November 30 this year, whereas 7,047 cases against DTC buses.