Civic body fined for garbage truck in special bus lane

Au00a0fine of Rs 1,400 was levied on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) by the traffic police when a civic vehicle entered the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) route at the Sopan Baug chowk on Solapur road. Rash driving and jumping a signal were among the offences taken into account when arriving at the figure for the fine.

The vehicle driver, identified as Ram Hari Gejane, a resident of Moshi, ran away after people intercepted the vehicle on Solapur road and handed him over to the police. The police said Gejane was driving the garbage collection vehicle of the Tilak Road ward office on Monday afternoon when he jumped the Sopan Baug chowk signal and entered the bus lane.

"Gejane was driving recklessly and lost control over his container. Pedestrians on the road saw it happen in the nick of time and managed to escape unhurt," said a police official. "Constable R S Khade instructedu00a0 Gejane to stop, but Gejane did not pay heed."

Police Inspector Nishikant Bhujbal said some people on bikes gave chase and intercepted Gejane's vehicle at the next chowk.

"Gejane was handed over to police, but he ran away on the pretext of fetching his driving licence," said Bhujbal.

The Tilak Road ward office was made to pay the fine before it could get the vehicle back. "The traffic police released the PMC vehicle only after the Tilak Road ward officers paid the fine of Rs 1,400 on Tuesday afternoon," said Police Inspector Vijaykumar Palsule. "The compounding charges included fines for driving without a licence, rash driving, disobeying traffic police orders and obstructing traffic."

Palsule said they were strict with any vehicle that misused the dedicated bus lanes. "The police are fining all kinds of vehicles misusing the BRTS lanes. Government vehicles are also fined, but the traffic branch does not maintain separate records of how many government vehicles were fined," said Palsule.