Ghaziabad: Deregistration of errant school vehicles to begin from June 17

With the Ghaziabad transport department set to start the process of de-registration of school vehicles from June 17, owners of 385 vehicles are likely to face action as they have not yet come forward for getting the fitness of the vehicles done

With the Ghaziabad transport department set to start the process of de-registration of school vehicles from June 17, owners of 385 vehicles are likely to face action as they have not yet come forward for getting the fitness of the vehicles done. Officials said the owners will be served a final notice before the vehicles are de-registered as per norms.

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The action against the erring school buses started after a Class 4 student died in Modinagar on April 20 when he stuck his head out of the window of a moving school bus and it hit a pole. The boy succumbed to the injuries thereafter. The department, during its probe, found that the bus involved in the incident did not have a fitness certificate and was already blacklisted.

Last month, the transport department suspended the fitness of 448 school buses and issued notices to the owners, following which a few of them came forward to get the fitness of their vehicles done.

“Of the 448 vehicles, owners of 63 vehicles have come forward to get the fitness done. We will be initiating the de-registration process for the remaining vehicles, whose fitness is yet to be done. Before the vehicles are de-registered, the owners will be served another notice to comply with the norms and get the fitness done in three months,” said Pranav Jha, additional regional transport officer (ARTO).

A fitness certificate is issued to indicate that a vehicle is complying with different norms and procedures and is fit to be driven on the road. It is renewed by the transport department after proper physical and technical inspection of the vehicle. It certifies that the vehicle complies with the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. It also certifies that the vehicle complies with safety aspects.

“After we issue the final notice, we expect owners of about 100-150 more vehicles will come forward to get the fitness certificates. After the Modinagar incident, we penalised about 155 school vehicles for different violations,” said Jha.

The Ghaziabad regional transport office has jurisdiction over four districts — Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Hapur and Bulandshahr. According to official estimates in April, the four districts have about 1,750 blacklisted school buses with about 750 in Ghaziabad, 700 in Gautam Budh Nagar and 150 each in Hapur and Bulandshahr.

The four districts have around 5,400 school buses, of which 2,000 are in Gautam Budh Nagar, 1,900 in Ghaziabad, 800 in Bulandshahr and 700 in Hapur.