Cuttack, Dec. 8: The Regional Transport Authority has formed three squads to inspect school buses engaged in ferrying children in various parts of the district.

The move comes in the wake of the state government's recent transport policy that aims to ensure safety of students travelling in vehicles arranged by the schools.

According to the policy, school buses have been made mandatory for students, and autorickshaw, Tata magic and other smaller vehicles are banned from December 1.

The squads today conducted an inspection of at least six buses engaged in the transportation of school as well as college students at Niali.

Motor vehicle inspector Rashmiranjan Dalabehera told The Telegraph that efforts were being made by the department to ensure that all the school and college buses were fitted with speed governors and the GPRS systems. The high-tech devices have been made mandatory under the transport policy.

Such inspection of the school vehicles will be conducted in Cuttack from next week.

"During our drive, it was found that a lot of school authorities in the rural areas are yet to comply with the order. We have issued a 15-day time for installation of speed governors and the GPRS," said Dalabehera.

He also said all the school buses were being verified based on a 24-point checklist that includes colour of the vehicle, whether "School Bus" along with name and address of the school, contact number of the bus-in-charge and other important officials, including local police station, are written on the front and back.

Besides, the squads are also checking the doors of the buses to ensure that they have safety lock mechanism, whether seats are firmly fixed, driver cabin is separated with grilled partition and blood group of the students travelling in the vehicle are available.

Regional transport officer Dipti Ranjan Patra said that not a single school bus in Cuttack had installed GPRS, so that a parent could track the movement of the vehicle in which his or her child was travelling.

"We are trying our best to ensure that the policy is implemented by the school and college authorities in true spirit, so that the lives of children can be protected," said Patra.