School vehicle fitness drive: RTO cracks down, Lko institutions rush to take remedial action

Over the course of the drive, the RTO has also announced that a nodal officer will be appointed, who will conduct regular inspections on the school vehicles

Educational institutions in the state capital have been forced to make changes in their transport vehicles ferrying children to and from school, with the regional transport office and the traffic police cracking down on school vehicles unfit for transporting children.

For representation only (HT File Photo)

City Montessori School will be discarding 24 buses by August. Alok Singh Parihar, put in-charge of school vehicles at the school said, “We were told to strictly follow the age limit of buses (15 years). Out of the 67 buses at CMS, 19 have to be replaced immediately, and five more will expire by August,” said Parihar. He continued, “To ensure that children under 18 years do not drive bikes, we have been asked to tell parents that their wards cannot drive two-wheelers to school,” he informed.

At the start of the school vehicle fitness drive on July 8, all Lucknow schools were invited for an awareness workshop at Transport Nagar, where the attendance of representatives was abysmally low. Of over 370 schools invited, only 27 representatives showed up for the workshop. Over the course of the drive, the RTO has also announced that a nodal officer will be appointed, who will conduct regular inspections on the school vehicles from here onwards, and hold the school accountable for violations.

Vibgyor Public School too reports significant changes in their traffic management system. Aakash Singh, admin official of the school, who had attended the workshop, said that six wardens have been assigned duty outside the school when children arrive and are leaving to go home. “We also have 18 school buses, and each of them are undergoing maintenance and fitness checks on a monthly basis. We are trying to ensure that our vehicles are all in order at all times, since the RTO has been issuing challans, banning vehicles, and checking traffic regulations outside school campuses.”

Similarly, Vinod Ojha of St John’s Bosco College said that students below 18 have been given strict instructions to not drive two-wheelers to school. “There isn’t a lot of traffic congestion as many of the children live close by the campus, but we have initiated regular checks on our school buses and vans.” The school has two new school buses and four older school vans, which are checked for fitness every two months, Ojha said.

Several other city schools have taken small but significant steps to manage traffic outside their campuses, and maintain the fitness of school vehicles, since the drive began. In the first week, the RTO had already collected over ₹5 lakh in fines, and challaned nearly 200 vehicles for having mechanical issues, or driving without helmets or licences, among other offences. Vehicles that were found to be older than the permissible age of 15 years, were banned by the RTO.