The bus operators, irrespective of the party affiliation, hold CITU responsible for the rash driving of bus drivers.

After the Howrah accident on Saturday, Mamata had demanded that the commission system should be scrapped.

The CITU, however, blames the transport operators for not fixing up the wages of drivers, which make them drive rashly.

The driver of a private bus in Bengal gets 24 per cent of the total daily sale of tickets and the conductor gets 6 per cent. This pushes the drivers to run their buses as fast as possible to conduct maximum rounds and get maximum tickets sold.

Bus operators feel that the commission system may contribute a little to the accidents but the rash driving is mainly caused because the errant drivers are never convicted. There is a minimum fine of Rs 500 if bus driver is caught by the traffic police for driving recklessly, but the bus owners pay the penalty instead of the errant drivers.

“Agree that the commission system contributes to the rash driving but there are other aspects also. Reckless drivers are never convicted,” said Swarnakamal Saha, spokesperson of the Bengal Bus Syndicate.

“Due to CITU’s mandate, drivers drive according to their whims. The bus owners do not even know what the driver is doing with the bus on the road,” added Saha.

Bus operators added that if the commission system was only responsible for reckless driving, there would not be any accident involving the state buses.

The CITU, however, says poor maintenance of vehicles and strenous schedule of drivers cause accidents.