RTA to put brakes on illegal driving schools

Hyderabad: The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has decided to crack the whip against illegal driving schools in the State. From now onwards, the RTA will provide a recognition sticker to registered driving schools for easy identification and book cases against the mushrooming illegal driving schools. According to RTA officials, every driving school should be registered with the Transport Department and there are a set of rules to be followed for running these schools. However, driving schools have been mushrooming allegedly due to negligence of the authorities. Most of these schools lack proper infrastructure and their training is unscientific.

According to the RTA officials, there are over 800 registered driving schools with the Transport Department and close to 1,000 driving schools are operating illegally. As per the rules, the trainer of the driving schools should possess a diploma in Mechanical Engineering and should have heavy motor vehicle licence with a badge. Driving schools should have a room each to teach proper driving method, road rules, steps to be taken during an accident etc. The trainees should be explained about the steps to be taken when the vehicle breaks down. There should be an instructor who should hold a degree in Automobile Engineering.

As per rule 31 (4) of Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989, there is a limit for providing training by a trainer. In case of non-transport vehicle, the trainer can train only 22 candidates per month and in the case of non-transport vehicles, the candidates should not exceed 11 per month. The driving process should be first in open fields and then on the roads with traffic. However, most of the schools do not follow the rules. Some of them used one licence to run two to three schools, said the official.

Telangana LMV Motor Driving School Owners’ Welfare Association president D Swamy said illegal driving schools were eating away the business of the registered schools. The authorities should come up with a solution to save people who do business legally, he demanded.

Joint Transport Commissioner J Pandurang Naik on Tuesday applied stickers to the vehicles of registered driving schools. The sticker would have licence number, owner’s name, vehicle number and validity date of the licence. He said there were some bogus driving schools and they had approached the department seeking action against the illegal schools.

Pandurang Naik said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways sanctioned Rs 16 crore for setting up of the Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR) at Mandepalli, Sircilla mandal in Karimnagar district with a project cost of Rs 16.48 crore, which was under process and soon it would be materialised.