Sixty-two out of 779 schools vehicles in Virudhunagar have been found lacking full roadworthy condition during a joint inspection by officials of different departments here on Thursday.
The officials have instructed the school authorities to take up remedial measures and again bring the vehicles for inspection to get fitness certificate.
The inspection of school vehicles were carried out by officials of various departments at the Virudhunagar ARmed Reserve Grounds.
Collector V. P. Jeyaseelan supervised the inspection carried out under Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles (Regulation and. Control of School Buses) Special Rules, 2012.
officials from district adminsitration, police, transport, School Education Department inspected the vehicles from 181 schools across the district. This included 244 from Virudhunagar, 83 from Srivilliputtur, 132 from Sivakasi, 154 from Aruppukottai and 166 from Rajapalayam.
The officials checked the vehicles for fire extinguishers, first-aid boxes, emergency exits and speed governors.
The officials also checked whether licensed conductors were appointed in the buses to help the students while getting in and getting out from the buses.
The officials also checked whether the steps of the buses were student-friendly helping them to climb up and down with ease. The steps should be 25 cm to 30 cm from the ground.
The buses should have a separate enclosure for the driver, whether the seats were properly fixed with the platform.
The buses should have an enclosure for keeping the school bags and whether the windows had proper railings to prevent the students from putting their hands out.
The Collector instructed the school officials to ensure that all safety measures were provided in the school buses to ensure safety for the travelling students.
Firemen demonstrated how the fire extinguishers should be used to put out flames in the event of an accident in the school buses.
Officials from the 108 ambulances services demonstrated the first-aid measures to be done for students in the event of an accident.
All the drivers and conductors got free blood pressure and blood sugar check up at the venue.
Revenue Divisional Officers, RTOs, Motor Vehicle Inspectors, officials from the Departments of Education and Fire and Rescue were present.
