Noida: Random inspections of school buses to continue after Diwali

After the murder of an eight-year-old student at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, Gurgaon, parents across Delhi-NCR have been demanding better security measures on school premises and in buses.

After an initial round of inspections of school buses, the regional transport department and district administration is now gearing up to expand the drive in Noida once the festive season is over.

Two teams have been formed by the administration for Noida and Greater Noida to inspect school buses on a random basis. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

After the murder of an eight-year-old student at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, Gurgaon, parents across Delhi-NCR have been demanding better security measures on school premises and in buses. In the wake of rising demand, Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate BN Singh had given until October 10 to all schools in the district to fix their security loopholes.

On October 11, a school bus belonging to GyanShree Public School had met with an accident when a dumper had hit the rear end of the bus. The accident had left a four-year-old child injured. There have been two accidents involving school buses in GB Nagar in 2017.

Two teams have been formed by the administration for Noida and Greater Noida to inspect school buses on a random basis. The Noida team is headed by city magistrate and has assistant regional transport officers (ARTOs), police personnel and fire safety officials as its members. Similarly, the Greater Noida team is headed by the additional district magistrate with ARTOs as its members.

However, the ARTOs of transport department claim that further inspections will now happen only after Diwali, once schools reopen after the festival break.

“Until now, we were carrying out inspections on a random basis and now we want to make it a regular practice. From now on, inspection of school will become a routine practice in the district,” said Himesh Tiwari, ARTO.

The transport department is also looking to clamp down on private vehicles being used to transport children to school.

“Such vehicles do not have a licence for transporting children and yet they are being used as transport vehicle by schools. This practice will be curbed. We are trying to ensure that children are safe in buses,” said AK Singh, ARTO.

In the initial drive, the regional transport officials found some irregularities. “The irregularities were minor in nature. For example, a few buses were running without label ‘School Bus’ prominently written on the body of the bus. A few buses had the phone number of the driver missing. We took cognizance of these offences and let them off with a warning,” Singh said.