60% school buses don't follow norms

More than 1,000 schools in the city have their own school buses. The School Bus Owners Associations (SBOA) have alleged that around 60 per cent of the school buses don't follow the government norms of school bus safety for school children. The SBOA has threatened the transport department to go on strike from JANUARY 20th if they don't do away with illegal vans that ferry school children beyond their seating capacities.

The SBOA wrote a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stating how the school bus owners are incurring losses because of the illegal vans which are transporting children at low fare, thereby impacting their business negatively. The association has urged the transport department to take action against all school buses that have made no agreement with the schools. The association also wants the transport department to pull up vehicles like jeep, mini bus, tempo traveler and Omni, which are functioning without the permission of the schools.

Anil Garg, President of SBOA, Maharashtra, said, "Several vans are ferrying without permits. They carry students inside the van beyond its seating capacity. The 11,000 vans that are given permit by transport department are illegally carrying children above 12-year-old, which is not allowed as per the rule of the transport department. There are around 40,000 mini vans that are illegally ferrying school children. We will protest if these vans are not stopped in Mumbai and Maharashtra."

SCHOOL BUSES

40,000 in Maharashtra

10,000 in Mumbai