Crackdown on educational institution buses by RTA

The fitness certificates issued by the RTAs concerned will be valid for one year. Not obtaining a fitness certificate compromised the safety of students.

Hyderabad: In the first three days of the school reopening, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) authorities seized about 60 buses belonging to various educational institutions for different violations across the city.

Nearly half of these were found to have not obtained the mandatory annual fitness certificate. Some of the vehicles were seized due to irregularities including no valid document, including road tax.

---

The fitness certificates issued by the RTAs concerned will be valid for one year. Not obtaining a fitness certificate compromised the safety of students.

RTA officials said the special drives against school buses which started on Wednesday would continue till June end. “It is mandatory that the educational institutional buses renew their fitness certificates. But even after proper instructions, the managements are careless,” said a senior official.

According to RTA officials, of the nearly 20,000 educational institutional buses in the State, at least 90 per cent had renewed the fitness certificates.

In Hyderabad, of the 1,290 educational institutional buses, 969 buses had completed the process, while 321 were yet to undergo it. “It is observed that some of the school managements were not proactive in renewing the fitness certificates. They either rush to the RTA in the last minute or do away without it,” the RTA official added.

Total educational institution buses in State – 20,829

* 12,000 plying under GHMC limits

* 1,290 in Hyderabad, 5,610 in Medchal, and 5,733 in Rangareddy

* Cases against the seized buses under Section 207 of the Central Motor Vehicles (CMV) Act 2019.

*Violators liable for a penalty of Rs 5,000 to Rs 18,000 in absence of essential documents such as a driving license, RC, permit, pollution certificate, tax, and insurance.