HYDERABAD: On poorly engineered and maintained streets of the city, lack of skills in handling the wheel of an automobile is, without doubt, a prime cause of road accidents. Even as unauthorised driving schools continue to mushroom across the city, the state transport department appears to turn a blind eye.
The department has not had, till date, any record of unauthorised driving schools. However, official sources say that there are close to 400 illegal driving schools in Greater Hyderabad and the department has, in the last three years, cracked down on not more than 50 such training centres.
Driving school owners, authorised or unauthorised, are confident of running their business without any hurdles.
“Officers never conduct any special check at our driving schools. Even if they do, we know how to reopen them again,” said the owner of a driving school at Mehdipatnam, adding that even traffic police never stopped them.Transport officials, on condition of anonymity, say that they are aware of the threats caused by such illegal driving schools. “They are endangering the lives of learners as well as the general public on roads with their unscientific methods. Training on their unfit vehicles is no match for real-time road experience,” they say.
The department’s statistics reveal that there are only 125 RTA-authorised driving schools in GHMC limits and even many of them are flouting the Motor Vehicle Act. Besides, many schools licensed to operate in a particular locality have opened branches in other places owing to poor surveillance by the department.
A driving school should charge anywhere between ` 1,200 and ` 3,000 for a 45-day course and has to follow the syllabus laid down in Rule 31 of MV Rules.“But many driving schools in the city charge more than ` 5,000 from each candidate and promise issuance of a driving licence if they pay additional charge of ` 1,500, which is illegal,” the transport official said.