Hyderabad: Just 24 hours before schools are to reopen, there are 13,559 buses of educational institutions used to ferry children that have no fitness certificate. There are 26,065 such buses in the state. Many of them did not even turn up for the fitness certification. Some of those that did, have been denied the certificate because as per new instructions from the Central government, school buses must have speed governors.
In Hyderabad alone, there are 2,321 buses belonging to educational institutes, out of which only 916 buses had a fitness certification till June 7. This means 1,405 buses will be plying on the roads, carrying thousands of children, after schools reopen without a certificate. There were 25 minor and major accidents involving school buses in the areas of Ibrahimpatnam, Shamshabad, Ku-katpally, Mehdipatnam, Medchal and Hayathnagar from 2018 to date. The accidents were due to the negligence of the driver or because of the poor condition of the buses.
On January 28 this year, a school bus belonging to the ACM Residential School, carrying around 50 students, met with an accident on the Medchal highway reportedly due to brake failure. Though students escaped with minor injuries, they were left shaken by the incident and parents then mentioned that the school bus was always late due to repairs.
The transport and education departments should coordinate and take measures to ensure that no school bus without a fitness certificate dares venture onto the roads. School managements should also be held accountable if the buses they hire don’t have fitness certificates.
Speed governors
In order to curb accidents due to speeding, the Road Transport Authority (RTA) is enforcing the rule that requires buses to have speed governors.
A speed governor does not allow a bus to be driven at speeds above what is set as the speed limit. Buses applying for certification at the last minute are being sent back because of the lack of speed governors and drivers claim they were not informed about this rule.
When contacted, deputy transport commissioner (DTC) K. Papa Rao was firm about not giving fitness certificates for school buses that lack speed governors. He said he would extend the date for getting the fitness certification by 10 days if required, but having speed governors is mandatory.
The last date for getting the fitness certificate was May 15. The RTA had sent notices to schools to get fitness certification done as soon as possible, however not even half have complied.
There will be surprise inspections by the RTA once schools reopen and if caught, the school bus would be seized.
