Schools set to start, yet buses rusting in garages

​Hyderabad: Though schools are about to start from June 1, more than 70 per cent of the vehicles of education institutions are yet to turn up for fitness test at the RTA offices in the city. 

As per the Delhi High Court’s directive, vehicles of schools and colleges must come up for fitness check during May. As per the rules, the fitness certificate must be obtained by the respective school managements in May before plying on the roads as schools generally start during the second week of June.

There are around 1,500 school/college buses in Hyderabad district and over 4,600 in Ranga Reddy district. However, more than 70 per cent of the educational institutions are yet to turn up for the fitness tests, according to our sources. 

As per the rules, the school buses should have the required documents/equipments such as the fitness certificates, registration papers, insurance papers, transport permit, driving license of the concerned school bus drivers, fire extinguisher and first aid box in the bus. This is to ensure safety of children travelling in these buses. 

According to the RTA officials in Ranga Reddy district, there are over 4,600 buses pertaining to educational institutions and as on Wednesday only over 2,500 buses have come for fitness test. Ranga Reddy Deputy Transport Commissioner M Praveen Rao said there was still time left for the fitness certificates. He said only the state board schools are reopening from June 1, the CBSE and Inter, degree colleges would be starting from July. 

In Hyderabad, there are over 1,500 vehicles pertaining to educational institutions and sources said that just over 20 per cent of vehicles had come for fitness certificate. Joint Transport Commissioner J Pandurang Naik said educational institutions would have to come any time after May 15 and there was no deadline as such for them.  

Naik said the delay was because there were holidays and there would be no staff in the institutions. Once the schools start, the institutions would have drivers and they would come for fitness certificates. Replying to a question, Naik said there was no proposal to have GPS in buses. It was up to the institutions to have the GPS in their buses, he added. It may be mentioned here that the Andhra Pradesh government insisted on fixing the GPS in the educational buses.  

Educational institutions should submit the names of drivers and also cleaners of their buses so that this would be made available on the website of the Transport Department for ready reference of parents. Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union general secretary M Dayanand said that if the vehicle lacked valid fitness, it meant their registration was also not valid. “The officials cannot say that the fitness test is not mandatory. It is a matter of danger to the students,” said Dayanand.