Madurai: Schools unlikely to operate idling buses due to lack of maintenance

1st September 2021 0 By Abdul Qadeer

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Back to school

MADURAI: Vans and buses belonging to the private schools here are unlikely to operate due to chances of the vehicles developing technical snag, as they have been lying idle for a long time. These vehicles operated by institutions have been stopped for more than 17 months since closure of schools was announced in the third week of March last year during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The transport department inspects the vehicles along with the police, revenue and education department officials on 32 different safety parameters ahead of the reopening of schools every year. These vehicles have not been inspected in May 2020 and May 2021 due to closure of schools.

Education institutions in Madurai operate 1,128 vans and buses. This includes 879 that are operated by schools under the three RTO offices in the district – Madurai North (354), Central (256) and South (269). The remaining 249 vehicles are operated by colleges and other higher education institutions.

A senior RTO official told TOI that this year they are yet to receive the circular from the transport commissioner to conduct the checks. “However, we prepared the list of vehicles that are operated by institutions to checktheir preparedness.

But most of them said they would not be operating as it would not be viable immediately and that they would wait and watch before taking a call,” he said.

Senthilnathan M, president of the private schools correspondents’ confederation said that most schools are not prepared to run school buses as of now. “There is no problem preparing old vehicles that already have fitness certificate, but for new vehicles it will be difficult.

Further, even without any maintenance, just insurance cost us around Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh without covering vehicle damage,” he said.

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