CHENNAI: Around 80 school buses run by 34 State Board schools in South-West of the city were inspected by officials of the transport department, with assistance from police, revenue and education department officials, at the KK Nagar Regional Transport Office, on Wednesday. The inspection, which was headed by the Regional Transport Officer of Virugambakkam, A Ravichandran, was carried out in lieu of an order from District Collector E Sundaravalli, asking for school buses to be inspected before schools re-open for the next academic year, on June 1.
According to Ravichandran, the inspection of the buses across the city that is being carried out at 12 RTOs, will end on May 30.
On Wednesday, buses of schools including Vani Vidyalaya, St Mary’s, Assisi Matriculation, and PRS Matriculation School, were inspected.
A total of 21 parameters, as set by the Supreme Court, were tested to check the safety of buses, Ravichandran said, speaking to reporters. Some of the major parameters that were scrutinised in the presence of the drivers, included the availability of first aid kit, fire extinguishers (minimum two), a platform for getting into the bus, emergency door, condition of tyres and seats, and as to whether speed governors had been installed.
Speaking to City Express, Ravichandran said that the defaulting vehicles would have to rectify the faults before May 27, which is the date of re-inspection. “A show cause notice will be sent to the schools and the defaulting vehicles alone will be tested again. In case, we find faults even then, the bus permits of schools concerned will be cancelled. If in case we find any default from the drivers’ end, the drivers’ licenses will be cancelled,” he said. He added that the issue of overcrowding was also taken into consideration and said that spot inspections would be carried out to check the same, once the schools reopen.