Kerala Blasters team bus loses fitness certificate; vehicle had worn-out tyres

The Kerala Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) has cancelled the fitness certificate of the official bus of the Kerala Blasters FC for its failure to adhere to road safety norms. 

According to the officials, the official bus had worn-out tyres, including a deep crack on a tyre which was susceptible to bursting. Besides, the coach carrier had damaged rear view mirrors and no medicine in the first aid box. 

The MVD officials also opposed the vinyl stickers on the bus which display giant pictures of the players.  This is in violation of the High Court verdict in this regard. Though the Kerala Blasters management had requested special permission from the MVD authorities concerning the vinyl stickers, the department is said to have sat on the application.

The MVD also found that the validity of the vehicle location tracking system had expired and neither was it tagged to the MVD’s 'Suraksha Mitr' website.

The Kerala Blasters team had hired the bus from a private agency and had been using it to transport its players from and to the training grounds. Now that the vehicle has lost its fitness certification, it can hit the road only after rectifying the issues, and the MVD has given the team 14 days for the same. 

Though MVD had issued a check report on Saturday when the team had a game at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi, the follow-up action was reportedly taken only on Wednesday. 

The team had a training session on Wednesday and the management had requested the officials to permit the vehicle to transport the team members from the ground to the hotel under the condition that it does not exceed a speed of 15 km per hour.