From January 1 to July 10 this year, the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) has taken action against 178 school buses found flying in the face of safety regulations. According to the RTO, as many as 709 school buses were checked by the flying squad to find out whether they were following safety and security guidelines. In addition to these buses, 417 school vans and other vehicles were also checked by the authorities. Action was taken against 178 school buses and 84 other vehicles.
Deputy regional transport officer Sanjeev Bhor said, “We checked 709 buses and action was taken against 178 of them, and 84 other vehicles between January 1 and July 10. A total of 35 vehicles were impounded and fines were imposed. A total of ₹29.75 lakhs in fines was recovered from the erring drivers.”
The safety of school-goers has always been a sensitive issue for the RTO, police and citizens. Recently during a district-level school transport security coordination meet at the Commissionerate, police commissioner Retesh Kumaarr issued strict warning to school bus operators to function according to the highest standards of safety. The meet was attended by the police and RTO top brass including DCP (traffic) Vijay Kumar Magar.
Several initiatives have been launched for greater safety and security of the school transport system. A website https://schoolbussafetypune.org has been launched to streamline the work of the School Bus Student Transport Committee. A total of 5,731 schools have already registered on the website and Bhor has appealed to the education department to encourage the remaining schools to register on the website. The city traffic branch has issued strict guidelines for school transport safety. It has now been made mandatory to have a male helper on school buses ferrying boys and a female helper on those ferrying girls. The drivers of these buses have to be well trained, morally competent, and possess a good track record. The school transport committee has to vouch for the integrity of these drivers. Also, strict surveillance and real-time geo location-based inputs of bus movements on roads have to be incorporated in the school transport system.