Haryana: Transport officials maintain ‘studied silence’ over buses owned by GL Public School
On April 11, six students of GL Public School lost their lives after one of the buses of the school driven by a drunk driver rammed into a tree and then overturned near Unhani village
Three days after six students of GL Public School in Kanina, Mahendergarh, were killed in a road mishap, the Mahendergarh regional transport authority (RTA) officials continued to maintain a studied silence over total vehicles used by the school to ferry students.
On April 11, six students of GL Public School lost their lives after one of the buses of the school driven by a drunk driver rammed into a tree and then overturned near Unhani village. The fitness test of the bus had expired and the school was functioning despite a gazetted holiday on Eid. There were 37 students on board when the incident occurred. The driver was speeding the bus at 120 kmph and it did not have any attendant when the incident took place.
A senior official from Mahendergarh administration said during a meeting on April 13, the chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanoongo, was told that the school has 20 vehicles, including 18 buses, one each Mahindra Scorpio and Maruti Omni Van.
“It emerged in the meeting that except one bus, all vehicles owned by the GL Public School were flouting norms. According to transport officials, the school owns 11 buses and a van. However, the eight buses used by the school to ferry students were condemned and the RTA officials have no record of them. Everyone wants to know where these buses are now. The fitness certificate of 11 vehicles belonging to this school had expired. The oldest vehicle was registered in 2000. A challan of ₹12,500 against one of the buses is still pending,” the official added.
When HT contacted Kanina DSP Mahender Singh to know about the total number of vehicles used by the GL Public School to transport students, he said the regional transport officer has the buses’ data and he can shed more light on this. He said police have seized seven buses, one Mahindra Scorpio and one van belonging to the school for not adhering to norms.
Talking over the phone, Kanina SDM Surender Singh, who is also part of the four-member committee to probe the incident, said the district transport officer Manoj Kumar and his team had inspected the buses and he can reveal figures about the total vehicles used by the school and their status.
Despite repeated phone calls and text messages in the last two days, Mahendergarh district transport officer Manoj Kumar did not respond to HT’s queries.
Transport inspector Mahabir, who was part of the team that inspected buses of the GL Public School, said he had inspected the buses and data about the buses is kept in the office.
According to police officials, as many as 38 instances of challaning against the vehicles owned by the school were reported.
Speaking to HT over the telephone, transport minister Aseem Goel said so far he had also received conflicting reports about the number of buses/vehicles the private school in question was using to ferry students. When he was apprised how not only the senior transport department functionaries in Chandigarh but also those posted at Mahendergarh were maintaining a studied silence over this issue and refusing to shed light if it is true that school was using at least eight buses which were already condemned and did not exist in the official records of the RTA, the transport minister said: “ Until now I don’t have confirmed information on this issue. I have been told that there were 12 to 15 buses/vehicles the school was using to transport students.”
Responding to a question, the transport minister said: “Let me assure that I will not let this matter be hushed up even if there are pressures. I will not let this matter be brushed under the carpet either. Keeping in view the sensitivity of the issue, I want to request you to wait till the probe is underway.”
After chairing a meeting of Mahendergarh district officials on Saturday, Priyank Kanoongo told the media persons that prima facie it appears negligence on the part of transportation officials and education department officials and he will write to the Union government demanding strict action against them.
“The buses were plying by flouting norms and the transportation officials failed to initiate action against them. The school was opened on a government holiday and the district education officer failed to implement government orders,” he told the media.
