On a gory Thursday morning

The recent school bus accident at Nerul has brought to light how schools are flouting the RTO norms for transport facilities

January 19 proved to be a dreadful day for few students of Father Agnel Multipurpose School. At 6:45am, at LP Junction, Nerul on Sion Panvel Highway, the schools bus no 3 (MH 04 G 3984) crashed into a speeding tempo (MH 04 DD 4889) injuring five students.  The students included Asha Gupta (14), Bhargvi Koli (12), Simran Khera (11), Pranav Bade (12) and Rajesh Chauhan (14). They suffered injuries and were admitted to the hospital immediately. Coincidentally, the injured Rajesh Chauhan is the son of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Chembur division, N.D. Chauhan. 
Due to this incident the issue of unsafe school buses has resurfaced. On December 16, Cityplus covered a story on schools flouting the deemed RTO norms. The story revealed that, according to senior officials from Navi Mumbai Regional Transport Office (RTO), of the 117 private schools in Navi Mumbai, only four schools are following all the norms laid down for operating school buses under the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Act.
Social worker, Harpal Singh, adds, “RTO officials have been conducting various workshops and seminars for city school on how to implement the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Act 2011. This would ensure the safety and security of the children travelling by school buses.  Schools have to follow the norms prescribed by the act. However, hardly any schools follow the norms. The authorities should take strict action against the offenders of the act. School children have lost their lives and we don’t want more children to suffer.”
Due to the poor condition of school buses, the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) sent a plea to the RTO and the school management to start implementing school bus safety norms. Kaustubh More, president MNVS, adds, “When we heard of the accident, we immediately rushed to the accident scene to help the children. To our utter dismay, we were shocked to see the school bus not adhering to the norms prescribed in the act. There were around 64 children travelling by the bus, when the capacity of the bus should be around 55.”
RTO plays a crucial role in executing the safety norms for school buses. When contacted, Sandesh Chavan, assistant RTO officer, shares, “The Vashi RTO gave Father Agnel School a notice, wherein they would have to correct and operate by the norms. This was later put into practice. Now all the norms are in place at the school. After the accident, we inspected all the nine buses of Father Agnel School. During the inspection, it was found that three of the nine buses did not have rods on the windows. Also there were two fire extinguishers weighing five and two kilograms hung by ropes. While the norm clearly states that all school buses should have safety rods on the windows as also there should be minimum two fire extinguishers weighing five kg each.”  
Fr Russel D’souza, adds, “We have rectified the errors and we will see to it that these kinds of mistakes do not take place. We will also conduct training programmes for bus drivers in the month of February.”

The Act
As per the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Act 2011, there should be a school bus safety committee for each district to discuss, decide and recommend transportation under the chairmanship of the police commissioner. The committee should meet at least once in six months to review and monitor safety issues.
It also states that every school should have a transport committee to ensure safe transportation of students, transportation fees, identification of bus stops etc. The committee will verify documents of vehicles. It will be headed by the school principal and will have one parent teacher association representative, local traffic or police inspector, inspector of motor vehicles or assistant inspector and an education inspector. The vehicle should carry a complete list of students, including name, class, residential address, phone number and blood group. The list shall also indicate the route plan.
In case of emergency the driver and attendant will inform the school and ensure safety of students.In case of kindergarten children,
if an authorised person does not come to pick the child from the stop, then the child shall be taken back to the school and their parents will be informed.

Mandatory norms for bus owners and conductors need to follow
•    Buses should have the words 'School Bus' written on the front and rear.
•    If they are contracted by a school, the words 'On School Duty' should be displayed.
•    They should have a first-aid kit.
•    A fire extinguisher should also be placed in every bus.
•    Windows should have protective grills, not just a couple of bars.
•    There should be space beneath seats to accommodate school bags.
•    The name of the school and its telephone number should be mentioned on the bus, even if it is only on a sticker.
•    At no time should the number of students exceed the seating capacity of the bus.
•    The bus driver should have a minimum of five years driving experience.
•    The driver should have no criminal record
•    The private vans and the mini buses should have yellow colour resembling that it is a school bus

--Rucha Kamat