School bus should be among conditions to start school: MP

The Madhya Pradesh Transport Department has proposed that arranging transportation facility for students should be one of the conditions for opening a school.
School bus operations in the state had come under the scanner after an accident in Indore on January 5 in which four students of Delhi Public School (DPS) were killed.
"We have sent a proposal to the School Education Department asking it to include school bus operations or the transportation of students in the conditions laid down for opening a school. At present, school buses come under the purview of the Transport Department," Minister for Home and Transport Bhupendra Singh told reporters here today.

Singh added, "We will not compromise with the safety of children. In some states, ten year old buses are allowed to be operated as school buses while in Madhya Pradesh, buses that are up to 15 years old are allowed as school buses."
In another development, an association of school bus drivers today announced that their strike here, which started yesterday, had been called off.
Shiv Kumar Soni, president of the MP School Bus Vahan Sewa Samiti, an organisation of school bus drivers, said bus operators would join work from tomorrow adding that the state government had accepted their demands.

One of the demands was that buses employed for transporting students should not be fined when the transport department checks them, he said.
The strike was called yesterday after a drive was started by the administration against school buses that were not following mandatory state government guidelines.