The government bus that allegedly ran over a rickshaw-puller near the GD island in Salt Lake on Sunday afternoon before crashing into the boundary wall of a park will undergo a mechanical test.
The low-floor bus used to ply on the S9 route (Jadavpur-Karunamoyee) and is around eight-and-a-half-years old, a transport department official said.
A senior officer at the Bidhannagar police commissionerate said a mechanical test had been scheduled for Monday to know the reason for the crash.
“The driver of the bus has told us that he had faced a sudden loss in the brake pressure and the bus did not slow down even after the brake pedal had been pressed. A mechanical test will help us determine whether any issue with the brakes or the steering wheel had led to the accident,” the officer said.
An official in the transport department said the fitness certificate of the bus had lapsed in January. “The bus also didn’t have valid insurance papers, a prerequisite for any vehicle to ply. The insurance policy had expired in 2020,” the official said.
The Sunday afternoon accident happened when the bus, ferrying a handful of passengers, was moving towards Karunamoyee.
The police said the driver of the S9 bus realised that his brakes were not working and started shouting to alert people nearby to move away as he veered the vehicle towards the boundary wall of the GD Block park.
“The driver wanted to bring the bus to a stop by ramming it into the wall. He apparently did not see two rickshaws that were parked along the wall. One of the rickshaws had the puller sitting on it,” an officer said.
“The bus, which was approaching Karunamoyee from the EM Bypass-Broadway crossing, hit both rickshaws before ramming into the wall. It ran over Brindaban Pradhan, the rickshaw-puller,” the officer said.
Pradhan, a resident of Kestopur, was taken to Salt Lake Sub-divisional Hospital, where he was declared dead.