Annual inspection of school vans, buses begins in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: The annual inspection of school vehicles began here on Tuesday. Officials of the district school education department and regional transport offices inspected school buses and vans.
District administration officials said there were a total of 2,015 school vehicles belonging to 340 schools in the district. Of these, 1,172 vehicles belonged to 221 schools in the city.
These vehicles would be inspected this week.
As many as 469 school vehicles in Pollachi and 374 school vehicles in Mettupalayam would be inspected in those regions.
Officials said they inspected the vehicles for parameters such as engine condition, brakes, emergency exit, height of the steps, speed control device and for any damage inside.
District collector K Rajamani inaugurated the inspection drive on the PRS Ground. The collector told reporters that all school vehicles in the district would be inspected and certified before the first week of June when schools are set to reopen.
“Only certified vehicles would be allowed to transport students. If school vehicles are found not to have certificates, they would be seized, and action would be initiated against the school management,” he said.
The collector said he would convene a meeting of the road safety committee by this month end to discuss issues such as over-speeding of private vehicles which transport schoolchildren. Schools are allowed to have their own vehicles or to have contract with private firms for using their vehicles, the collector said.
“The private vehicles too should be painted in the colour prescribed by the state norms and follow all the norms,” he said.