Mumbai: School bus rams in a truck in Agripada; no casualties reported

A school bus of St. Mary's School in Agripada, near Viverea towers, was involved in an accident. The mishap occurred at 6:50 in the morning, on August 4. Since there were no students on board there were no casualties recorded.

Due to the ongoing metro work metal sheets are used to cover the road. The bus tried to brake on the metal sheets, but couldn't grip it and crashed into the truck ahead of it.

The school officials assert that the bus was preparatory and that no children were on board.

"The operator informed us that the accident occurred as a result of the metro work," the school official further stated to the Free Press Journal.

The bus driver was hurt a little bit, and the bus was going for the repairing work in the morning to the nearby garage.

Coincidentally, between July 26 and July 31, during the latest RTO drive, a special inspection campaign of unlicensed school vans and school buses was carried out. In this campaign, a total of 2253 vehicles in the state were taken, and 1661 licenced and 592 unauthorised vehicles.

Vehicles without a license, vehicles without speed governor, vehicles carrying more students than the seating capacity, vehicles without valid fitness certificates, vehicles without valid insurance certificates, vehicles without attendants, vehicles without fire fighting facilities, and vehicles violating other provisions of the school bus rules, etc. Action has been taken against the offending vehicles.

According to a notification from Avinash Dhakne, the transport commissioner, all parents and the school administration should exercise caution and work with the administration to ensure that the students ride in appropriate vehicles.

Talking about the incident, a resident living in the Agripada, Faisal Shaikh, who is also an NSUI Mumbai's state vice president said, "It's an accident-prone zone, and because of underground metro construction on temporary basis metal slabs are used as a replacement for the concrete road in monsoon it is fatal if you speed. Luckily during the incident, no students were on board. It is the duty of School Management to recruit or monitor outsourced agencies who are super-cautious while driving as they ferry a good number of students."

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