Police on Tuesday prosecuted 45 buses that were plying with lapsed fitness certificates in the city.
The drive against such buses started on Tuesday following an instruction from transport minister Firhad Hakim to the police to ensure that no bus could ply without valid documents.
A minibus that had been running for three years without valid papers fell on its side at the Dorina crossing in Esplanade in the central business district on Sunday afternoon, leaving 27 passengers injured.
The bus was ferrying around 40 people to an engagement ceremony in Howrah when it met with the accident.
Of the 45 buses that were prosecuted on Tuesday, 10 were minibuses, police sources said.
“As many as 45 buses were prosecuted in a single day. That shows how rampant is the practice among bus owners to run vehicles without valid papers,” said an officer.
Another officer said around 85 per cent of the buses that were stopped on Tuesday did not have a valid certificate of fitness.
“The number of unsafe buses plying daily could be huge, given that there are more than 5,000 buses in the state,” the officer said.
Traffic police officers were seen stopping buses at major intersections across the city and asking for documents.
If a driver could produce a valid fitness certificate, he was allowed to go.
