SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 8: Dhanbad and Deoghar transport departments launched a crackdown on private school buses for ignoring Supreme Court (SC) safety guidelines. A total of 63 buses were penalized, and fines exceeding ₹4 lakh were imposed.
In Dhanbad, the Transport Department issued challans worth ₹3.90 lakh against 57 school buses, while in Deoghar, fines of ₹19,900 were imposed on six buses.
Dhanbad District Transport Officer (DTO) Diwakar C. Dwivedi said that 70 buses belonging to four schools—De Nobili School Bhuli, Chaitanya Techno School Nawadih, JK Sinha Memorial International School Nawadih, and Mt. Literal School Bhuli—were inspected. Out of these, 57 vehicles were found violating SC safety guidelines and the Motor Vehicles Act.
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“Challan of ₹3,90,700 was issued against 57 buses as they had not followed SC safety guidelines,” said DTO Dwivedi.
The sudden inspection was carried out on the directive of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Aditya Ranjan. The DTO added that checking of school buses will continue in Dhanbad.
The team also inspected six petrol refilling stations in the city to ensure compliance with the ‘No Helmet, No Petrol’ directive.
Six buses fined in Deoghar
In Deoghar, the transport department conducted a similar inspection drive on the orders of DC Naman Priyesh Lakra. Seven buses of St. Xavier School, Satar, were screened, and fines totaling ₹19,900 were imposed on six of them.
District Transport Officer Shailesh Kumar Priyadarshi said the buses were found violating multiple safety norms, including lack of fitness certificates, use of pressure horns, alterations, absence of first aid kits, no emergency exit, and faulty lighting.
“Papers of some buses were also incomplete. They were directed to update the required documents,” said DTO Priyadarshi.
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The Deoghar inspection drive was conducted by a team comprising District Education Officer (DEO) Binod Kumar, Motor Vehicle Inspector Amit Jha, Kumar Rajwar, and Road Safety Manager Shiv Kumar.
Officials stated that such inspections will be conducted regularly to ensure the safety of school children and strict action will be taken against schools and vehicle owners violating the rules.
