Karnataka private schools seek relaxation of 15-year limit on school buses
Bengaluru: Private school managements across Karnataka have urged the Transport Department to relax the rule that bars school buses older than 15 years from operating, citing financial strain and differences in treatment compared to other public transport vehicles, The New Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
Lokesh Talikate, the president of Karnataka Private Educational Institutions Association, said, “Private schools have to renew fitness certificates for school buses every year. Besides, we are not allowed to run the school buses on roads if they are more than 15 years old.”
He said most school buses run less than 100 kilometres a day and are well maintained. “Despite this, we are forced to replace them once they complete 15 years, while many government and private buses that have clocked over 12 lakh kilometres continue to operate on roads,” Talikate said.
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He pointed out that Karnataka has over 6,000 unaided private schools, most of which do not receive government grants. Replacing buses every 15 years without financial support places a heavy burden on schools. He said that school associations plan to approach Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy seeking relaxation of the rule.
Meanwhile, D Shashikumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary & Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said Kerala and Tamil Nadu allow school buses older than 15 years to operate, subject to fitness certification.
“For new school buses, fitness certificates are renewed once every three years, while for older buses, renewal is done annually. There are over 20,000 aided private schools, and we have written to the transport minister seeking relaxation of the age limit for school buses,” he said.
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BJP’s Nitin Nabin slams TMC over infiltration, SIR row
Kolkata (PTI): BJP president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the TMC government in West Bengal, accusing it of protecting illegal infiltrators, targeting Hindus and playing “dirty politics” to derail the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls.
Nabin alleged that there was a deliberate attempt by the TMC to turn West Bengal into Bangladesh and claimed that while the Election Commission was determined to weed out infiltrators and fake voters, the ruling party was committed to protecting them.
“The TMC government wants West Bengal to merge with Bangladesh. Under its rule, the demography of the state is being changed, posing a threat to national security,” he said.
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Dismissing the TMC’s allegation that the EC was harassing common people through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the BJP president said it was the state administration that was intimidating citizens to malign the poll panel.
“It is not the Election Commission that is harassing people. It is the TMC government’s SDOs and BDOs who are doing it to create fear and discredit the EC,” he alleged.
Nabin also accused the TMC government of being a protector of infiltrators and claimed that lawlessness had replaced governance in the state.
“Factories have been shut, and enterprises of corruption and lawlessness have been opened. Women are not safe under the TMC rule, and Hindus are being tortured,” he alleged.
Asserting that the BJP was fighting against what he described as the misrule of the TMC in West Bengal, Nabin said the party would continue efforts to curb infiltration, electoral manipulation and administrative intimidation in the state.
