Despite prior directives given by Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) officers to school authorities about the rules to be strictly complied with for operating school buses, many cases of serious breach in the rules were found by the enforcement wing of the department during the checking on the school reopening day on Thursday.
The school authorities had been instructed much in advance to secure fitness certificates for their school buses as part of the State-wide initiative of the MVD to ensure safety of students. Though most of the school vehicles had secured the fitness certificate by completing repair and maintenance works in time, some of the vehicles were found to have failed to comply with safety rules.
“We found many school buses today carrying more than double the permissible number of students,” Subhash Babu, Regional Transport Officer (Enforcement), said. There were even buses that carried over 140 students, he informed. He said that eight buses of a school here were seized for operating services without fitness certificates. He also added that many of the buses did not have insurance coverage. The MVD Enforcement wing also seized three buses running without permit and two buses driven by drivers without driving licences. MVD officials said that when they went to the schools concerned to inform the authorities of the violation, the latter chose to take a stand of protest. As many as 12 buses were found to have students exceeding the permissible number, five were found to have their emergency doors blocked and three with no speed governor.
Mr. Babu said that enforcement activities to ensure safety of students travelling in school buses would continue in the coming days.