Bangalore: City transport officials, continuing with their drive against unsafe school vans, seized 10 vehicles and issued notices to 25 vehicle owners in K.R. Puram on Monday. Majority of the seized vehicles belonged to reputed schools from the area, sources from the transport department said.
The inspection drive that started early in the morning continued till afternoon, RTO Lingaraju, who led the drive, said. The major lapses noticed during the inspection were excess students, use of LPG cylinders, lack of emergency exits, tinted glasses, non-availability of information on students with the driver or conductor and lack of first-aid boxes. “Vehicles with minor problems were let off with notices and drivers were directed to submit the compliance report,” he said.
“We carried out the drive in such a way that the children inside these vehicles were not affected,” he said. The drive will continue across the city, transport department officials said. “Over the last one week, all the RTOs are carrying out the drives in their respective divisions.
Hundreds of vehicles have been detained for major lapses. The drive has revealed that most of the schools are not following the Supreme Court guidelines on safety in school vehicles,” a senior officer said.
“There is a need to create awareness among the public and school managements over the SC guidelines. Whenever there are accidents involving school vehicles, we are blamed,” he said.
The state government notified the Supreme Court guidelines in March 2013.
