THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ambulances that do not have GPS facility will not be allowed to operate in the state from March. Informing the same in the assembly on Monday, Transport Minister A K Saseendran said that the ambulances have been given a deadline of February 29 to fix GPS.A proposal has been submitted by the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) to Education Minister C Raveendranath to cancel the recognition of those schools that do not ensure attendants in their school buses, he said.
“The government has got several representations regarding the misuse of ambulances. To ensure that an ambulance is indeed operating as an emergency medical service, an authorised officer will have to stop the vehicle and verify the same. This might sometimes create problems. Thus it was decided to track them using GPS,” said Saseendran.
Referring to the incident in which a third standard student fell off a moving school bus and died after the door of the vehicle opened as his bag got entangled in the door handle in Kozhikode, the minister said that such incidents are unfortunate and could be preventable.
“It has been made mandatory for those buses or vans ferrying students to ensure that an attendant is present. But some schools are yet to comply with the rule. The MVD has requested the education minister to deal with such issues strongly. It has been proposed to cancel the recognition of schools that do not follow the rule,” Saseendran said.
Earlier, answering a question, the minister said that 4,439 people had lost their lives on roads in 2019 due to varying reasons, including reckless driving, speeding, drunken driving, and others. Due to bad condition of roads, 17 persons also died. However, the minister added that compared with 2018, the road accident fatality rate has come down by 18.8 per cent in 2019.