Schoolchildren in a van and (right) an official of Regional Transport Office inspects the vehicle that was gutted in Cuttack on Tuesday. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubaneswar, July 18: The Regional Transport Office (RTO) here today started a drive against vehicles that have been carrying schoolchildren without any permit.

The drive has begun following the narrow escape of three schoolchildren from a blazing van in Cuttack yesterday. The officials, who checked 27 vehicles, seized two for carrying children without a permit.

Sources in the RTO said that during the check, they had also found that four school buses were operating without proper fitness certificates.

School buses are needed to renew their fitness certificate every year.

According to a guideline of the Supreme Court, all school buses need to have an emergency door, a symbol of the institute, a first-aid box, window grills and fire extinguishers. During today’s raid, while most of these vehicles were found to be without emergency doors, some of them were even found to be running without fire extinguishers and first-aid boxes.

Regional transport officer Lal Mohan Sethy said the drive would continue in the coming days and stringent action would be initiated against illegal vehicles carrying schoolchildren.

“We will also write to the principals of various schools, requesting them to adhere to the safety norms. If they fail to do so, we will recommend action against them,” said Sethy.

An official in the RTO said that more than 855 school buses were plying in the city.

In Cuttack, a probe began to ascertain the reason behind yesterday’s fire in an LPG-run vehicle that was engaged in transportation of schoolchildren.

Motor vehicles inspector Pradip Mohanty today checked the van that was completely gutted. Preliminary investigation revealed that though an “authorised gas tank” was installed in the vehicle, it did not have necessary permissions for commercial use.

Mohanty suspected that the fire might have been caused in the vehicle because of a possible leakage in the petrol supply pipe.

An enforcement squad of the RTO has been directed to conduct special raids to put a check on the LPG vehicles transporting schoolchildren without a permit and proper LG kits.

All the schools have also been instructed today to ensure that only vehicles, which follow the prescribed norms, are allowed to transport students.

“The school authorities have been asked to ensure that the vehicles engaged in the transportation of students should have a commercial registration and required safety measures,” Mohanty added.