At least six out of 10 vehicles (vans and buses) continued to neglect the safety provisions to be followed while transporting children from their houses to schools and back. This was the observation made by the transport department officials during a surprise check conducted on New Natham Road here on Tuesday.
The officials detained a bus belonging to the Mangayarkarasi school on charges of overloading and rash driving, while fined others for not obeying the rules. On instructions from Collector Anshul Mishra, a team of officers from the Regional Transport Office conducted surprise checks at many road intersections in the morning.
According to RTO (North) Ravichandran, during the check, 15 school buses were issued memos on various charges. Physical check revealed that there was no first-aid box or medicine kit in the vehicle.
The conductor or driver was not wearing the uniform. The licence of a bus driver had expired.
A head count showed that a bus was carrying 98 children and many were either standing or sitting on the floor of the bus. While the Mangayarkarasi school bus was fined Rs. 10,000 and detained, other vehicles were charged for various violations.
The other members of the RTO team intercepted five autorickshaws and detained three for over loading and rash driving. A total of Rs. 14,500 was collected as fine from the drivers. Two mini buses also were detained during the check for not having provisions to have first-aid box. In all, 22 vehicles were fined to the tune of Rs. 38,500, the officials said.
