In a bid to enhance safety and security of schoolchildren being ferried by educational institution buses and private vehicles, the district administration will begin intensive checking from Monday to bring to book the vehicles flouting rules.
Special squads will be deployed from June 5 and they will carry out checking of the vehicles concentrating on schools, District Collector S. Venkatesapathy said.
Vehicles lacking the stickers given by the Motor Vehicles Department after fitness test will be booked. Drivers who have not undergone MVD’s training in the prescribed safety and security aspects to be followed while transporting schoolchildren will also be booked.
The District Collector, who chaired a review meeting at the Collectorate here on Saturday, noted that vehicles ferrying school children are flouting rules despite the awareness campaign launched by the MVD and the police before the reopening of educational institutions.
Nodal officer
Schools had been asked to designate a teacher as nodal officer to keep a tab on the vehicles that transported the students.
The District Collector asked school authorities to submit trip sheets containing the boarding point of each student, time, and total students ferried before June 15 to the Regional Transport Officer (RTO).
The number of trips will be regulated on the basis of the trip sheet.
Overcrowding will not be allowed and only seating will be permitted in the vehicles. Those with more than 12 seats should have a door attender. Overhead racks or other arrangements should be in place for keeping school bags. The District Collector said it would be enforced for private vehicles.
The vehicles have been asked to keep a list of the students and the mobile phone numbers of parents. Educational institution buses should also exhibit the Child Helpline telephone number and that of emergency services.
At the meeting, it was decided to prune the branches of the trees on the school premises and to strengthen the inspection of shops in the adjoining areas to prevent the sale of narcotic substances to students.
RTOs V. Sajith, B. Muralidharan, Motor Vehicle Inspectors Vinod Surya, Sub Inspector S. Jyothikumar and Lekshmi from the office of the DEO attended the review meeting.