RTO pulls up school for bus fire, papers over own role

NOIDA: The regional transport office has sent a show-cause notice to the Noida school whose bus caught fire while taking children home, but glossed over its own failure to conduct safety checks on such vehicles.
Besides asking the school to explain what led to the fire, the RTO has also asked for the fitness validity certificate of the bus and the report on quarterly check-up of CNG.The air-conditioned bus, operated by Millennium School, had 18 kids on board when it caught fire in Sector 105 on April 30. But before the flames could spread, the bus crew managed to evacuate all the kids to safety.
Rachna Yaduvanshi, the assistant regional transport officer, said the school had been asked to reply by Monday. “It is mandatory for each school bus to get a fitness validity certificate and CNG checks done quarterly. Millennium School officials have been asked to reply if the bus in question fulfilled all the criteria,” Yaduvanshi said.
But her reply was evasive when asked about the RTO’s failure to conduct pres-session fitness checks on school buses this year, ostensibly because of the logistical demands of the Lok Sabha election. “If checks by the transport department weren’t done due to technical reasons, it doesn’t mean schools will not fulfil their duty of getting a fitness test done,” Yaduvanshi said. The RTO, she added, had sent notices to all schools to ensure that their buses fulfil norms.
Millennium school officials said they had already got an investigation done on the bus and found that an electric spark in the CNG pipe led to the fire. Principal Rita Kaul said the school observes all safety norms for buses. “The bus had undergone a CNG test on March 23 and its fitness certificate was valid till 2015. There was no lapse on our part and this (fire) was just accidental,” she said.