The district transport office has penalised around 40 vehicles transporting school-going children over the past two days under a drive against overloading.

Most vehicles were fined on charges of violation of Section 192 (a) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1986, which deals with violation of permit and punishable with a fine of Rs 5,000 for the first offence.

"We held several meetings with the school administration in the past asking them to restrict overloading in vehicles transporting students. They were asked to hold parents-teachers meeting to coordinate on this issue. But they have hardly taken any action. Accordingly, it has been decided to take strict actions against offenders from now on. The drive against overloading would continue throughout this week," said Dinesh Kumar Rai, district transport officer, Patna.

According to sources, around 700 private buses and around 5,000 autorickshaws and other smaller vehicles run for different schools to transport students.

Authorities in several schools are against overloading in vehicles transporting school students. "Ideally, overloading should not be allowed in school buses. But at times, we do not have control on the private buses. For instance, we own only two buses and remaining buses are operated by private operators. Thus, it is difficult for us to keep a tab on those private buses with regard to how many students they are carrying daily. Parents are opting for autorickshaws for their wards, which is totally beyond our control," said Mary Alphonsa, principal, Don Bosco Academy.

Parents welcomed the move of the transport department. "I pay Rs 800 per month against the bus fees of my son and I find it unfair when I see him standing in the bus. Thus such a drive by the administration against overloading in school buses and autorickshaws would benefit children," said Prakash Kumar, a resident of Ashiana Nagar.

Smart card cloud

The issuance of smart cards for driving licences and vehicle registration across the state has been temporarily suspended as the contract of the company, which was awarded this work, has been terminated on charges of delay. Consequently, the driving licence and vehicle registration details are being issued on a prescribed form by all district transport offices.

"The contract of Sreeven Infotech Limited, the private firm issuing the smart cards, was terminated a few days ago as they had a heavy backlog in issuance of the same. Accordingly, the principal secretary (state transport department) has issued an order to all DTOs to issue the driving licences and vehicles registration documents on prescribed forms," said Patna DTO Dinesh Kumar Rai.