Investigations into the death of an eight-year-old boy when travelling in his school bus revealed that the driver not only had an expired licence, but it was also not from Maharashtra.
“At least eight violations of the school bus policy norms had come to light in the investigation against the bus operator and driver. The vehicle’s fitness certificate has now been cancelled,” said senior transport department official.
On November 23, Viraj Parmar, a Class 3 student of Sardar Vallabh Ashram English Medium School in Sion, stuck his head out of the school bus window to wave goodbye to his friends. His head banged against an advertising board on a lamp post outside the school.
The eight-year-old, who suffered severe head injury, died at Sion hospital due to brain haemorrhage.
The central RTO, on Monday, sent detailed reports of the probe into the incident to the state transport commissioner.
“The driver’s licence had been issued by the RTO in Tamil Nadu on August 31, 2006, and it was valid until February 19, 2011,” said an RTO official.
Also, it was found that the driver, Sunder Mayandi, was given the badge to drive a passenger vehicle on February 20, 2008, in Tamil Nadu, which is not applicable in Maharashtra.
This means that Mayandi has a driving experience of less than five years in Maharashtra — a major violation.
Moreover, the schoolbus has only two horizontal steel rods and they were not placed 5cm from each other. “The rule mandates that each window should have three horizontal rods 5cm from each other,” said a senior transport official.
The other six violations were: No first-aid kit and two fire extinguishers in the vehicle; no board displaying ‘School Bus’ in bold letters; no illustration of a schoolboy and schoolgirl painted on the exterior of the bus; the emergency window did not have a handle and did not open easily; and no racks for children to place their bags.
“The RTO had sent a report explaining a few elementary facts about the accident on November 25. But, a detailed report was sought to clarify issues pertaining to the violations,” said a senior state transport official.
“The report, which was submitted on Monday, explained the findings from the inspections of the bus. One document explained the violations by the operator, while another explained why the vehicle’s fitness certificate was cancelled though it had passed the test conducted in June. We want the operator to comply by all rules and come to us for the fitness certificate,” he said.
A recommendation has been sent to the transport commissioner seeking to re-introduce the practice of placing grilles and steel rods — three or even more — such that entire window is covered.
“I also feel that school buses should ply exclusively for students and, if need be, made tax-free,” the official added.
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