The mandatory annual inspection of vehicles of schools and colleges commenced at the office of the Regional Transport Officer here on Saturday to ensure their operational worthiness.
After a kindergarten student from Selaiyur near Tambaram in Chennai fell through the broken wooden floor of a school bus and was crushed under the wheels a couple of years ago, the government made inspection of all such vehicles at RTO’s office during the last week of May every year mandatory.
Even as a team of officials, led by K. Thangavelu, Regional Transport Officer, Tirunelveli, inspected the vehicles on Saturday to ascertain if the vehicles had passed 21 safety norms stipulated by the State government, P. Fermi Vidhya, Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirunelveli, also joined a team of Motor Vehicle Inspectors Kannan and Sashi, who inspected the vehicles. The quality of wooden floor, availability of medicines in the first-aid box, fire extinguisher, emergency exit, height of steps, sturdiness of seats, etc., were checked during the screening. While the drivers of a few school vehicles had not brought the drivers’ log books and were unable to operate the fire extinguishers fitted in their vehicles, the officials recorded it.
Speaking to reporters later, Ms. Fermi Vidhya said that 56 schools in Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai taluks had been instructed to send their 182 vehicles for inspection, and all vehicles were being checked for compliance with the 21 safety norms.
“During the inspection, we found that a good number of vehicles have been operated in violation of safety norms, and the respective school administrations have been given a week’s time to rectify the violations. If the vehicles failed to pass the safety tests, they will not be issued permit and allowed to take the students during this academic year,” Ms. Fermi said.
