Second bus blaze at Tellapur school sparks outrage among parents

Parents of Manthan International School students staged a protest after a bus parked on the Tellapur campus caught fire, barely a month after another bus was gutted in similar circumstances. Officials inspected the premises and assured action against the management for operating buses in violation of safety norms.

Sangareddy: The fire accident in two school buses of Manthan International School located at Tellapur attracted the ire of parents. A parked school bus went up in flames on the school premises on Tuesday. Since another bus in motion was also gutted in similar circumstances a month ago, a large number of parents gathered at the school on Wednesday.

The school had nearly 3,000 students who were being transported every day in dozens of buses to various corners of Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Sangareddy districts. The management was charging a hefty transport fee as well as school fees from the parents. The parents, who examined the documents of the school bus that was gutted on Tuesday, found that the management installed AC in the bus even though it was a non AC bus according to its Registration Certificate (RC).

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Worried over the safety of their children, the parents launched a protest. MEO Bhaskar, Motor Vehicle Inspectors (MVIs) Goutham and Raju and Kollur Circle Inspector Saidi Reddy visited the school following the information. They spoke to the management and assured them that they would issue a notice to the management for operating the school buses in violation of guidelines. 

The parents demanded the MVIs to conduct fitness tests on all the school buses of Manthan without any delay. They further asked the officers to initiate stern action against the management for operating such buses.