Uttar Pradesh Transport Department has found 6,066 school vehicles unfit during inspections conducted across the state under campaigns including ‘Mission Safe Future’, as the state government intensifies measures to ensure the safety of schoolchildren.
Notices were issued against the unfit vehicles, while enforcement teams issued challans to 1,072 school vehicles for violations and impounded another 356 vehicles.
As part of the campaigns, the UP Transport Department is conducting fitness checks on school vehicles and verifying the character of drivers responsible for transporting students.
According to Transport Department data as of August 13, Uttar Pradesh has 19,680 schools. Of these, 74,337 vehicles are registered in the names of schools, while another 8,022 vehicles have been contracted by schools, taking the total number of school vehicles operating across the state to 82,259, the release said.
Additional Transport Commissioner (Enforcement) KD Singh Gaur said that under ‘Mission Safe Future’ and other campaigns, priority is being given to checking the fitness of school vehicles and verifying the drivers responsible for transporting students.
The objective is to ensure that schoolchildren have access to safe transportation and that action is taken against vehicles and drivers found violating prescribed regulations.
The Transport Department has also focused on the drivers operating school buses and vans. According to department data, character verification of 27,066 school vehicle drivers has been completed so far.
The department has issued directives to schools regarding safety checks for drivers and stressed the importance of verifying their backgrounds before they are entrusted with the responsibility of transporting children.
The ongoing inspections are aimed at identifying vehicles that do not meet safety requirements and ensuring that corrective action is taken, the release said.
(with input from agencies)
