Two days after the Regional Transport Office (RTO) issued fresh directions to school authorities and bus operators ferrying school students to equip the buses as per set safety norms, schoolbus contractors as well as authorities of a few schools have approached the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) seeking more time to install emergency doors on buses, among other things.

The demand for more time has been made considering that it is difficult to keep the buses off the roads to equip them as per norms, as schools are on and it will inconvenience students and lead to losses for bus operators. They also plan to file affidavits if needed stating that all the buses would follow the norms from the next academic year.

The RTO had first issued the directives in September following the Panvel incident in which a schoolbus had caught fire. In the fresh directives, the RTO has warned that permits would be cancelled or not renewed if the buses fail to follow guidelines.

As per the norms, schoolbuses should have an emergency door at the right rear and no seats near the emergency door.

RTA member Baba Shinde said, “Though the RTO had issued directives in September, they could not be implemented in toto due to the Assembly election. Therefore, the RTO has issued fresh directives. However, bus operators, providing services to schools on a contract basis, have approached us asking for more time to put necessary safety arrangements in place. Even authorities of some schools have made similar demand.”

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