By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, May 25, 2012: In less than 20 days, the new academic year is going to begin and schools are set to reopen after the summer vacation, but half of the total school buses in the district are yet to get the mandatory fitness certificate (FC) from the concerned Road Transport Authorities (RTA), clearly posing threat to school-going children.
After a recent accident in East Godavari district where around 14 schoolchildren died after a school bus fell into a canal, school managements are yet to respond to the mandatory procedure to check their vehicles.
The founder of Bala Vikas Foundation (BVF), Mr N. Prakasha Rao, working on child rights, pointed out that many schools were purchasing old buses from other states and converting them into school buses. “Students are overloaded in the buses, and most of them don’t have proper grills to prevent children from falling out. The RTA should initiate stringent action,” said Mr Prakasha Rao.
There are around 852 school buses in the district and of them until now, RTA inspectors could check only 647 vehicles. Of the total checked vehicles, only 439 were issued fitness certificates and 208 were rejected for not complying with the norms.
After the RTA officials circulated information regarding obtaining FC, only 640 school managements responded whereas the rest did not even bother to visit the RTA office.
Even before the schools are reopened, motor vehicle inspectors were instructed to conduct surprise checks on school buses on the roads. As part of such checks recently, RTA inspectors booked cases against 12 school buses not having FCs.
“Each motor vehicle inspector was entrusted to visit at least 20 to 25 schools in their jurisdiction and check the condition of the vehicles,” Motor Vehicle Inspector Mr A.H. Khan told this correspondent. There are around 25 motor vehicle inspectors in the district.
Mr Khan who looks after issue of FCs to school buses said that if the same vehicle is caught twice without an FC, it would be seized by their department permanently. Hereafter their department personnel would also conduct random surprise checks on schools every quarter, he said.
