Nagpur: Facing the heat over increase in mishaps involving school buses, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) cracked the whip and recovered fine of Rs 2.01 lakh from 105 school buses and five other vehicles for lack of required documents or fitness certificates.
The action was initiated under the directives of Regional Transport Officer Bajrang Kharmate and Deputy Regional Transport Officer Atul Aade. The crackdown on school buses was biggest so far. The operators of the school buses were found casual as far as fitness of vehicles was concerned. The RTO had conducted the special drive between October 1 and 15 and a total of 275 school buses were checked.
It may be recalled, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court while hearing a suo-motu PIL had directed the authorities to verify veracity of details about school buses, operators, conductors, safety mechanisms and whether other directives passed by the High Court about safety of school kids using bus service are being implemented or not. According to rules, the annual inspection of school buses and vans and autos transporting students is mandatory.
The RTO officials discovered that 105 buses and five autos were transporting the students without fitness certificates.
Total 826 school buses are registered with Nagpur RTO out of which 683 school buses were issued fitness certificate. The rest 143 school buses have not obtained the fitness certificate. The RTO had issued show cause notices to such school buses but still the operators did not bring the vehicles for inspection.
