There are no first aid kits inside auto rickshaws in the city. It is against the guidelines of the transport department of Karnataka.
Reported by Shreyas Vange
Wednesday, 27 November 2019, Bangalore
Bangalore: There is non-availability of first aid kits inside auto rickshaws in Bangalore, which is against the guidelines of the Karnataka Transport Department.
According to Swami, an auto-rickshaw driver, “The roads are not good here. There is risk of the damage of medical items. So we don’t think it is necessary to spend money for it”.
According to Hemanth Kumar, Additional Commissioner of the Transport Department, “It is the responsibility of the auto rickshaw drivers to buy first aid kits. All auto rickshaw drivers keep them when the RTO health inspection is conducted. Otherwise they remove them”.
According to the Economic Times, about 2 lakh auto-rickshaws are registered in the city. But most of them do not have first-aid kits.
According to the guidelines of the Transport Department of Karnataka, all auto rickshaws must have first aid kits.
According to M N Sreehari, a traffic adviser and consultant, “Auto rickshaws are supposed to have the first aid box also. The people responsible for it should check the auto rickshaws randomly without the knowledge of the auto rickshaw drivers“.
The traffic adviser and consultant also says that all the medicines in the first aid kits should be checked as well and kept up to date.
