The officials in Regional Transport Office, Police and Education departments jointly inspected college and school vehicles to check the condition and amenities provided in the vehicles here on Tuesday.
Talking to press persons, RTO Amritheeswaran said that schools will reopen in the first week of June and this operation was to ensure safety of children.
The schools should keep their vehicles fit to transport children safely. “We will check whether these buses have all safety measures. Emergency gate should function properly. Name of the school, telephone or mobile number, school transport official’s name, RTO number and police station number and email address of the school should be mentioned. Shelf facility should be provided under each seat and emergency exits should be functional. All buses should have first aid box and fire extinguisher and low steps with wide entrance. Speed governors should be fitted in all vehicles,” the RTO said.
Vehicles found with defects or lacking in these amenities will not be permitted for operation.
Week's time
One week’s time will be given to school authorities to rectify the defect. If they failed to rectify it, such vehicles will be impounded, he added. A total of 274 vehicles owned by 151 nursery schools and 101 matriculation schools in Dindigul, Athoor, Natham and Vedasandur were checked by a team comprising Transport Inspector Manivannan and officials from police and education departments on the RTO campus.
The officials advised the school authorities to train a group of students in higher classes about using the emergency exit in buses to react swiftly during emergencies. The conductor of the bus should also be trained suitably to handle any situation, the RTO advised.
