MP govt to track speed of school buses with GPS

BHOPAL: Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on Sunday, said the movement and speed of the school buses in Madhya Pradesh will now be monitored by use of GPS technology.

Talking to reporters after meeting the family members of the children who died in the road accident in Indore on Friday, Chouhan added that instructions will also be passed on to officials for removal of buses older than 15 years from school bus service.

He said the state government had decided to adopt more automation in vehicle fitness centres to cull away human interference and lower chances of tampering with various vehicle fitness parameters.

Allegations have been levelled that the speed governor of the ill-fated bus in Indore had been tampered with and that the bus was speeding at the time of the accident.

The state home minister Bhupendra Singh has also instructed the chief secretary that the speed limit for school buses be decreased from 60 to 40 kms per hour in the state.

Minister of state for school education, Deepak Joshi, added that safety in school buses will now be linked to affiliation rules for schools.

He said the state education department will frame rules that make school managements and owners of the buses accountable for any such incident. According to Bhopal school bus association president Nasim Parvez, there are around 1,600 school and college buses plying in Bhopal alone.

THREE ARRESTED

Three persons were arrested on Saturday in connection with the accident.

Senior officials of the Indore police said they arrested the school’s transport manager Chaitanya Kumawat, Suvidha Auto Gas director Neeraj Agnihotri and employee Jalaj Meshram.

Suvidha Auto is the company that had supplied and fitted the speed governor in the ill-fated bus.

Police also sealed two offices of Suvidha Auto Gas and seized several documents from the transport office of the school.

An inquiry ordered by the Madhya Pradesh government found that the bus was travelling at around 80 km per hour, which would not have been possible had the speed governor — which is mandatory in school buses — been functioning.

The report held the school management accountable for the accident as they did nothing despite being informed of a technical problem in the bus.

The four children were cremated in Indore on Saturday.