Kochi: The Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) will conduct a drive to check condition of school buses from next week while putting responsibility on school authorities to ensure safe commutation of children to the educational institutions and back.
Collector K. Muhammed Y. Safirulla has directed the regional transport officer to suggest him ways to monitor condition of school buses and also private vehicles that have entered into a contract with schools to pick and drop students. The action was taken in the wake of the mishap involving a school jeep at Koottatukulam in which three persons, including two nursery students, died. A preliminary inspection found the brake system of the vehicle failed due to poor maintenance.
“Some agencies (educational institutions) fail to carry out laid-down guidelines regarding condition of school buses. It’s the responsibility of the school to keep record of all the vehicles carrying children to the institution and to ensure their proper maintenance by respective owners,” said RTO P.H. Sadiq Ali.
A meeting, chaired by the collector, will be held by the weekend and the inspection drive will be carried out from next Monday onwards. “We’ll inspect the condition of the school buses. Though there is fitness test, many vehicles are not maintained in between and this results in issues like brake failure,” the officer said.
On Monday last, a jeep carrying school children lost brake while descending. The panicked driver took off the keys which jammed the steering and the vehicle crashed into a wall at Koottattukulam.
