In an inspection drive done by the three RTO offices, Nagpur city, rural and east it was found 107 school buses plying without fitness certificate and 22 without permits which raise a big question on the safety of students.
According to the instructions of the transport department, the regional transport office of rural and sub regional transport office of East Nagpur together conducted a school bus inspection campaign from July 26 to 31.
There are specific regulations for the safe transportation of students. But the investigation has revealed that some school bus drivers in the city and rural areas are violating the rules.
The maximum speed of the school bus van in the city is 40 kmph in the city and 50 kmph in rural areas. There is a compulsion to install a speed governor. However, two school buses were found plying with speed governors.
The RTO issues fitness certificates only after verifying various aspects like condition of school bus, brakes, lights, licence, driving ability of the driver, what crime has been registered against the owner and driver, what punishment has been given for not following the traffic rules, besides checking the vehicle and owner’s documents. But the inspection revealed that as many as 107 school buses did not have the ‘fitness’ certificate. There are 17 school buses in the city, 9 in the east and 81 in rural areas.
It was also found that there were no fire extinguishers in six school buses and attendants in four in the east. Students more than capacity were found in 3 school buses in the rural. Penalty of 35,750 was imposed on the guilty school buses found in this drive.
