School vans under tight scanner

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With just a week to go for schools to reopen and the haunting memories of the Karikkakom school van tragedy lingering, the Road Safety Authority chaired by the District Collector on Wednesday decided to put school buses and other vehicles transporting students under a tight scanner. The district administration and the police will swing into action from June 1 to ensure a smooth and safe ride for schoolchildren, District Collector Dinesh Arora said. Vehicles lacking proper documents and those driven by drivers with less than ten years of experience, or lacking the Educational Institution Bus permit, will be seized. All school-owned vehicles should display the boards ‘School Bus’ and hired vehicles should have boards saying ‘On School Duty’ at the front and back. More than 1,500 schools in the district had submitted the filled-up School Transport Forms, Arora said. ‘’Transport means autorickshaws, taxis, mini buses, vans, jeeps etc. For the time being, remaining conditions like colour of bus or speed governors have been relaxed,’’ Arora said.  The police will ensure that overcrowding in school buses will not be allowed. The Road Safety Authority reviewed the measures taken and it has been decided to ensure strict enforcement of Transport Safety guidelines from June 1, 2011. ‘’Any school transport bus which does not follow the guidelines detailed in the School Transport form (based on Supreme Court guidelines) will be seized by RTO / Police and will be produced before the District Collector,’’ Arora said.  The vehicle shall not be released till the school authorities primarily apply for EIB and produce it before the Collector. In fact, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had reviewed the action-taken measures in the Karikkakom tragedy, which claimed the lives of six kindergarten students and their caretaker, and has sanctioned ` 30 lakh for various measures to be taken, including the cleaning of Parvathy Puthanar canal from SM Locke section to Karikkakom temple, and for installing protective railings at vulnerable points.