Bengaluru: The transport department on Wednesday seized 21 BMTC buses for violating Supreme Court safety norms. The buses were being used to ferry students of Vidyaniketan School on Ullal Road near Mallathahalli.
A senior transport department official said that the buses were poorly maintained and were found operating without first-aid box, side safety grilles and CCTV cameras. The buses also lack other basic facilities like fire extinguisher, first-aid-box and speed governor. According to certain sources, most of the BMTC buses transporting children do not follow the Supreme Court guidelines.
On condition of anonymity, a few transport department officials revealed that there is a mounting pressure on them from the ministry not to take any action against the BMTC buses. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy was unavailable for comment.
However, a senior BMTC official said Supreme Court guidelines were being followed. “We don’t have dedicated buses for schools. These buses ply normally after the school hours. Hence, we are not able to install special features and get it painted. We have also taken permission from the transport department to run these buses. Our vehicles are better than the private ones,” the official added.
On Saturday, a BMTC bus ferrying 52 students to Srirangapatna for an excursion caught fire on the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. An electrical short circuit was stated to be the reason. A team from Ashok Leyland is expected to come from Chennai in two days to ascertain the real cause of the accident.
