Over 3,000 school vehicles to be inspected in Vellore, nearby districts

Ahead of reopening of schools, more than 3,000 school vehicles at eight RTOs in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts will be inspected in the coming days to ensure safety of the students.

Ahead of reopening of schools, more than 3,000 school vehicles at eight RTOs in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts will be inspected in the coming days to ensure safety of the students.

On Wednesday, 933 school vehicles in Tiruvannamalai (580 vehicles) and Arani (353 vehicles) towns were assessed. Of these, nearly 100 vehicles have been certified as unfit for use. Tiruvannamalai Collector B. Murugesh monitored the day-long exercise. As per norms, the assessment will be done by revenue divisional officer (RDO), Deputy SP, Chief Educational Officer (CEO) and Regional Transport Officer (RTO).

It involves checking 21 parameters including the height of the footboard, strength of the floor, fire extinguisher, first aid kit, speed governor, driver cabin, seats, bag racks, windows, windows grill, and emergency exits. “From this academic year onwards, the school vehicles should also have front and rear cameras to prevent runover accidents. The entire exercise should be completed by May 29,” C. Saravanan, regional transport officer (Arani) told The Hindu.

The RTO officials have pasted the OK-sticker on those buses that have passed in the inspection, for identifying the buses during vehicle check-up. Tiruvannamalai comprises three RTOs such as Tiruvannamalai town (580 vehicles), Arani (353 vehicles) and Cheyyar (234 vehicles) with a total of 1,167 school vehicles in the district.

The newly formed Ranipet district has two RTOs - Ranipet and Arakkonam with 300 and 175 vehicles respectively. Major towns like Arcot, Walajah, Sholinghur and Thimiri come under Ranipet RTO whereas Arakkonam RTO has only Arakkonam town and Nemili. The RTOs in Tirupattur and Vaniyambadi towns will cover over 400 vehicles each.

Vellore RTO in-charge R. Venketasan, said that Vellore RTO covers areas like Katpadi, Vellore town and Anaicut with over 400 vehicles whereas Gudiyatham RTO has Pernambut, Gudiyatham and K.V. Kuppam with 150 vehicles. Most of the vehicles in these districts will be inspected by this week.