The private bus operators were found to be violating some other provisions such as employing either underage drivers or overage drivers and not renewing the fitness certificates.
District transport officials on Wednesday continued surprise checks on school buses and seized 37 vehicles of various educational institutions.
Of them, 18 school buses were seized in Vijayawada city, four each in Machilipatnam, Gudivada, and Vuyyuru, three each in Nandigama and Jaggaiahpet, and one in Nuzvid. Norms pertaining to school buses were amended in March 2011.
Awareness drive
“We conducted an awareness drive to educate the stakeholders about the new rules put in place. Now, we intend to deal stringently with the violators,” said Deputy Transport Commissioner A. Mohan. Out of 1700-odd school buses operating in Krishna district, only 900 to 1,000 of them updated their fitness certificates so far, said Mr. Mohan.
Every year, the department conducts a month-long special drive from June 15 to July 15 to zero in on law violators. “Last year, we booked cases against 262 school buses for all kinds of violations such as overloading of students, operating the vehicle without permit or driving licence besides failure to acquire fitness certificate,” said Mr. Mohan
Transport Department seized 18 school buses in various parts of the district for not possessing valid fitness certificate. Deputy Transport Commissioner, RTA Guntur, T. Raghunath said the raids would continue on Thursday.
The department seized 12 buses in Guntur and three each in Mangalagiri and in Tenali.
The private bus operators were found to be violating some other provisions such as employing either underage drivers or overage drivers and not renewing the fitness certificates.
Keywords: District transport officials, surprise checks, school buses, seizure
