Govt issues directive on compliance with AIS-119 safety standards
Panaji : Mandating immediate compliance with AIS-119 bus body safety standards, the Transport Directorate has put its foot down on ensuring emergency exits and fire detection and suppression systems in all sleeper coaches.
The Directorate has put commercial bus operators on notice, enjoining that non-compliant vehicles must be withdrawn from service without delay.
A related public notice was issued on February 25, which comes on the heels of directions issued by the National Human Rights Commission in December 2025.
The directive points to a zero-tolerance approach to structural and safety lapses in passenger buses plying on Goan roads.
Under the norms, operators are required to remove driver partition doors that obstruct emergency evacuation, ensure a minimum number of emergency exits — four for buses up to 12 metres in length and five for those exceeding that — and install fire detection and suppression systems in all sleeper coaches.
The notice has prohibited sleeper berth sliders and any unauthorised chassis extensions, both of which have long been flagged as serious safety hazards.
The Directorate has made clear that vehicles failing to meet these requirements must be immediately taken off the road. However, the Directorate acknowledged the practical challenges of overnight compliance.
Hence a limited grace period of 30 days has been given to operators solely for the purpose of rectifying deficiencies — with March 31, 2026, set as the deadline.
Transport officials warned that the grace period is not a licence to continue operating unsafe vehicles, and that strict enforcement action will follow against those who fail to comply by the stipulated date.
