Even after several guidelines issued by the authorities on bus safety and regulations to ensure school students security, so far no concrete steps have been taken seriously to consider these norms.
Though checking drives have been initiated in the city but still, there are several private school buses in the capital which are plying breaching all the safety regulations and putting children’s life at stake.
“We have started checking and monitoring the school buses in the city. On the basis of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 and on the special order of Judge including the Supreme Court (SC) guidelines, all mandatory assessment of private school buses is being done accordingly. If buses are not found fit, notices to respective private schools are immediately sent and only after proper maintenance, the buses later on will be allowed to ply,” informed Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI), Shah Nawaaz.
The school bus checking drive which began on February 22 is likely to continue in the coming days too. “On the first day 12 private buses was found unfit and the notices have been sent to the respective schools to immediately take action on the matter. The checking drive will continue covering aspects like availability of seats, insurance papers, driving licenses, pollution certificates and others,” Nawaaz added.
Few days back in a meeting conducted by the DC Ranchi, Manoj Kumar along the school management staffs and members of Abhibhawak Manch it was unanimously decided to figure out the issue of bus fees including vital agendas related to the bus maintenance like insurance, fuel cost and imparting training to bus staffs was also made mandatory.
“We try to maintain all the buses and follow the guideline as prescribed. We do not admit students more than the prescribed numbers of seats in the buses. As decided in the meeting with the district administration, we are organizing a workshop on ‘maintenance of school buses for safety of kids’ for bus drivers and conductors on February 25 on school campus,” said, Principal, AK Singh, Oxford Public School.