40 schools in Ghaziabad city dump bus facilities

Following the death of a 10-year-old Class 4 student at Modinagar, who stuck his head out of a moving school bus and it hit the pole of a gantry gate on April 20, the regional transport department found during its physical inspection of vehicles ferrying school children that at least 40 private schools in Ghaziabad are no longer in a position to operate school buses

Following the death of a 10-year-old Class 4 student at Modinagar, who stuck his head out of a moving school bus and it hit the pole of a gantry gate on April 20, the regional transport department found during its physical inspection of vehicles ferrying school children that at least 40 private schools in Ghaziabad are no longer in a position to operate school buses.

School buses are being checked at the Vehicle Fitness Testing Centre in Dasna, Ghaziabad on Friday. (Sakib Ali/ HT)

During investigation, the transport department found that the fitness certificate of the school bus involved in the Modinagar accident expired in March last year and the vehicle was blacklisted by the department in October, 2021. The department also found that the vehicle was among the 756 buses available with 166 schools, which have been blacklisted due to non-renewal of fitness certificate.

“When all such matters came to the fore during the investigation of the Modinagar accident case, the department carried out physical inspection of the schools and found that vehicles belonging to 40 schools were blacklisted but they were not in operation. These schools told us they are not in a position to operate the buses as they suffered financial losses during the two year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The condition of buses also revealed that they were not in operation for long,” said Pranav Jha, additional regional transport officer.

Jha said the transport department portal shows the buses of these 40 schools have been blacklisted; the institutions will now submit their applications for cancellation of the permits.

“Apart from these schools, our teams also found that two prominent schools have already junked and sold their old buses, which continue to show as blacklisted on the website. These two schools will also submit applications for cancellation of permits. Our physical inspection will go on and we will continue taking action against erring school buses,” said Jha.

The Ghaziabad regional transport department has jurisdiction over four districts-- Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Hapur and Bulandshahr.

Official data available with the regional transport department till April 28 shows that the teams in four districts have so far checked 2,558 school buses. Of this, 278 were found operating without any fitness certificates while 518 were found not equipped with the requisite safety apparatus such speed governors, provision of fire equipment and first-aid kit, etc.

Records also indicate that 20 of these buses were found overcrowded during inspection. Records further show that 1,356 of the 2,558 buses checked were plying in Ghaziabad, of which 145 were operating without fitness certificate.

Members of the parents’ association said the decision of the schools to not provide for the transportation of children will affect parents. “Parents, including those who are working professionals, will have no option but to pick and drop their wards. The schools have to make arrangements for transportation of children as per norms or else the district administration should intervene in the matter,” said Vivek Tyagi, spokesperson of the Ghaziabad parents’ association.

Members of the schools’ federation said the two years of Covid pandemic has affected the finances of many schools. “Some of the schools are not in a position to get their buses repaired, install new accessories or get the fitness done. In such cases, parents will have to make arrangements for transport. The administration is carrying out strict enforcement against school buses but there is no check on private vans, which do not adhere to norms,” said Subhash Jain, president of Independent Schools’ Federation of India.