Officials have started inspecting school vehicles in Salem and Namakkal districts.
As per the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles (Regulation and Control of School Buses) Special Rules 2012, school vehicles have to be inspected by RTOs during the month of May to check their fitness and condition.
Officials said that licence of the vehicles, insurance, fitness certificate, fire extinguisher, emergency exit and other safety measures in place in the vehicles would be inspected and clearance would be given for plying the vehicles for school children. They said that discrepancies during inspection should be sorted out at a given time and the vehicles would be re-inspected before giving clearance.
A total of 244 vehicles belonging to 37 schools were inspected by a team of officials attached to the Salem West transport circle on the Jawahar mill ground in the city on Saturday.
Three vehicles were found to be having various snags and the official team disqualified them. The school managements were directed to rectify all the snags and set right things as per the government norms, and bring them later for inspection.
In the Salem East transport circle, V. Jayagowry, RTO, inspected a total of 230 vehicles belonging to 36 schools. Thirteen vehicles were found to be having various discrepancies and the school managements were directed to set them right within a week.
Later, the officials imparted specialised training to the crew of the school vehicles on safety aspects and the precautionary measures to be taken while transporting the students to schools.
Officials attached to the Regional Transport Office – Namakkal North, South and Tiruchengode asked all the educational institutions to deploy their vehicles for inspection and complete it before May 31 failing which they cannot ply their vehicles.
The officials asked all schools to obtain clearance failing which the particular vehicle would not be allowed to transport children from June 1.
