Sardarpur: Police check school buses for safety measures, facilities

Sardarpur (Madhya Pradesh): Just a few days after four schoolchildren were killed and around 11 kids were injured after the minivan they were travelling in met with an accident with a truck in Nagda tehsil of Ujjain district, the local police and administration, Sardapur has swung into action.

SDM Rahul Chouhan and SDOP Ram Singh Medha on Thursday undertook a random inspection of school buses of Guru Rajendra International School, Mohankheda, to assess their safety measures and compliances with guidelines mandated by the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act to ensure the safety of students.

During the drive, the police checked the school buses for facilities including proper seating arrangement, security, speed governor, fire extinguishers, first aid box, insurance and emergency exit doors.

SDM and SDOP have jointly written a letter to private school administration, demanding the certificate of fire safety equipment and its NOC as the safety of schoolchildren was the responsibility of the school authorities. Vans or other vehicles should leave and pick up the students inside the schools.

SDM Chouhan said that 10-point performa will be used by drivers to check whether the vehicles used for transporting school children meet the required norms and standards.

Giving information, BRC Boot Singh Bhanwar said that according to government records, 125 private schools are operating in Sardarpur tehsil and 17,305 children are enrolled in these schools. A total of 63 school vans or other vehicles are operational in these schools.