West Bengal Transport minister Arjun Singh has asked all school authorities to ensure that over 15-year-old unfit vehicles ferrying children are discarded.
Singh, speaking to reporters at Circuit House in Darjeeling during a visit to the hills in North Bengal on Tuesday, said that to prevent any untoward incident, all schools must ensure that vehicles older than 15 years are not run.
Schools asked to ensure vehicle fitness
"The Transport department has asked all district magistrates to prevent the plying of vehicles older than 15 years sans any proper fitness certificates for safety issues," he added.
"Vehicles older than 15 years without any proper documents would not be allowed to ply the roads... owners of many such old vehicles do not ensure that they have fitness certificates," he said.
The minister said all schools must ensure that no unfit vehicle is used even by private operators to ferry children of their institutes, besides ensuring regular fitness of their buses.
Safety focus after fatal accident
Three school children were killed when a pool car carrying them lost control and plunged into a pool at Bahira in Uluberia in Howrah district on November 24 last year.
Singh, who took over the reins in May this year, alleged that the previous TMC government did not take adequate steps to address the issue.