Gautam Budh Nagar:Transport dept starts fortnight-long safety audit of school buses

As schools reopened after summer vacation on July 1, the Gautam Budh Nagar transport department has started a fortnight long drive against school buses from July 8 to 22, said transport officials, adding that the fitness certificates of 238 of 1,941 school buses have expired and they have been asked to renew the certification.

Five teams of the regional transport office (enforcement) started checking buses from Monday, on the directions of the Uttar Pradesh government.

“The department received instructions from Lucknow to run a fortnight long drive from July 8 to 22 to check school buses for safety. Five teams, including three assistant regional transport officers (ARTOs), are conducting the checks at various points in the district,” said Udit Narayan Pandey, ARTO-2, enforcement.

According to the transport department data, there are 1,941 registered school buses in the district. “In our records, the fitness certificates of 238 school buses have expired. We have asked them to complete the fitness recertification at the earliest. If they continue to operate unfit buses, we will take strict action against them,” said Pandey.

He further said, “During the checking on Monday, two buses impounded for operating without fitness while three more impounded for having a valid permit and all five vehicles have been sent to the Knowledge Park police station. Apart from seizure, a hefty fine was imposed against 13 school buses for running without fire safety measures, expired pollution certificate and expired insurance.”

On Saturday, the transport department also conducted a meeting with the owners of school buses and instructed them to comply with all safety requirements. Despite the warning, if any school bus is found violating norms and endangering the safety of children, strict action would be taken against the bus owners, transport officials said.

The transport department also wrote to the education department to ensure compliance with the law and take strict action against the schools and bus owners from their end.

“Apart from the fortnight long drive, the department is conducting a similar drive at the district level from June 3. During the drive, we imposed ₹1.97 lakh fine against 12 buses and one bus was seized,” said Pandey.