THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of the shocking incident where a school bus plunged into the Mamom river on Wednesday, the police have launched measures to ascertain whether the vehicle had any mechanical defect. “We have written to the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in this regard,” Attingal CI Anil Kumar said on Thursday.
According to him, the vehicle’s documentation appeared to be in proper order. “But whether it had any mechanical problems remains to be seen,” he said. On Wednesday, the police had aired their suspicion the bus might have had a faulty braking mechanism. Fifteen students, their teacher and the driver had a miraculous escape on Wednesday afternoon after the bus, after losing control, skittered down a slope and fell on its side in the narrow river. The occupants, students of the Saraswathi Vidya Niketan, Valiyakunnu, escaped with minor injuries.
Meanwhile, the entire episode has yet again turned the spotlight on the largely unmonitored manner in which school children are transported to their institutions and back. Following the Karikkakom school van tragedy in February 2011, the District Collector had issued stern guidelines for school buses and vehicles carting children to school. While the vehicles operated directly by schools generally follow the guidelines, very few of the privately operated vans and buses come under the scanner of the authorities.
In the Karikkakom tragedy, a school van had plunged into the Parvathy Puthanar killing six school children. “After March 9, 2011, if any school transport is found not following the mandatory guidelines, severe action will be taken against the proprietor or owner of the transport and driver of the errant vehicle under the relevant sections of the Motor Vehicle Act which include seizure of the vehicle,” the then collector had said in an order issued after the accident.
In September 2011, three more children were killed after another school van plunged into the Parvathy Puthanar at Channankara.
In December 2015, the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights instructed the Transport Commissioner to issue further guidelines to ensure the safety of school buses or vehicles. Based on this, the Director of Public Instruction (DPI) had issued a circular detailing the guidelines to senior education officers, the headmasters and principals.