The journey, interrupted- 85 onboard a 36-seater: The study tour horror

“Later in the afternoon, I saw the news about the bus accident on television. I was shocked to see the name of my mother in the list of victims. I feel wretched for not picking up the phone that day. My father, Divyesh, died a month ago due to illness. Mother was working in a private firm as a cook and she was taking care of the financial expenses of the house.” Orphaned now, Shailesh plans to go back to his home district in Tapi and stay with relatives.

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The Surat Municipal School Board (SMSB) suspended the principal of the school, Ghanshyam Kankotia, for various irregularities in the decision to hire a private transport bus to take municipal school students out on a field trip. He was also held guilty for allowing six extra teachers with their own children to travel on that bus.

The state government issued a notification, directing all municipal schools to use only state transport buses for school trips. The next day, another private bus carrying schoolchildren met with an accident, though there was no death. Days later, two GSRTC buses met with fatal accidents.

Shailesh’s mother, Ramila (45), was among the five victims. Three of them were minor students of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) school no. 316, Kavi Ramesh Parekh School, at Tadwadi in Surat. The fourth victim was also a cook. The four victims were identified as Divya Bharti (13), Bhavna Bambhva (11) and Nisha Rabari (11) and Champa Rajkotiya (40), all residents of Surat. They died at the spot after the luxury bus they were travelling in overturned at Keshod in Junagadh district.

Atul Patel, former chairman of SMSB, said that Kankotia took permission from the school board to take students of Classes 5, 6 and 7 on an educational tour to Saurashtra on January 20. There were 72 students, 11 teachers and two cooks travelling in the 36-seater private luxury bus belonging to Gurukrupa Travels of Surat. The bus reached Somnath where they camped for the night and the next morning they toured Junagadh. The next morning, the bus overturned, apparently because the driver lost control.

The school board initiated an inquiry by the SMSB administrative officer and statements of school principal, teachers and deputy administrative officer, Shanker Patel of SMSB who had given permission, were recorded. SMSB administrative officer Hitesh Makhecha said, “Our probe found that the bus was over-crowded.

Permission was given to the school principal to take only five teachers, but he overruled the instructions and allowed six more teachers to travel with their own children, who were not in that school. The school principal was at fault. The state government accepted our inquiry report and directed us to suspend Kankotia. Showcause notices have also been issued to some teachers who had not taken permission and had gone on the tour with their children. They are yet to reply to our showcause notices.”

Makhecha said, “After this incident, the state government had passed a notification that the state transport buses should be used by the municipal schools to take their children on educational tours and picnics. We have circulated copies of the notification to all the municipal schools in Surat city.”

Keshod police lodged a complaint under IPC Section 304 (a) (causing death by negligence) and reckless driving against the luxury bus driver, Raju Gamit, who along with his helper, escaped. Two days later, Gamit surrendered, and is now out on bail. Police say the bus driver misjudged the speed of his vehicle while negotiating a curve. The bus hit the median of the highway, skidded for some distance and finally tipped on its side.

“The bus was overcrowded and the driver was speeding, leading to the accident. We arrested the driver but now he is out on bail,” said Keshod police inspector Ashok Tilva.

This was followed by a similar incident the next day in the neighbouring Gir- Somnath district. A private luxury bus carrying 54 students, three teachers and five cooks of Juni Mengani village primary school in Kotda Sangani taluka of Rajkot overturned near Vajdi village in Una at around 1:35 pm.

Police said that heavy rain in the monsoon had washed away the soil from the ends of a causeway and the driver of the bus could not control the vehicle while negotiating a curve near it. The bus fell off the causeway and overturned, injuring 13 students and a teacher. The injured were rushed to government hospital in Una where doctors told that two students had suspected concussions and the teacher had sustained fracture in hand.

The doctors referred the trio to Junagadh hospital for further treatment while discharging the remaining students after giving primary treatment. But, instead of going to Junagadh, the three seriously injured also returned to Vajdi with others and from there, took another bus to return home. “We have decided that the teacher who sustained fracture will be operated upon in Rajkot. Injuries to students don’t look serious and therefore we have not gone to Junagadh,” Ashok Bhalodi, principal of the school, had told The Indian Express.

No police complaint was filed in the case. “Neither the school principal nor parents of injured students were willing to file a complaint. Therefore, the matter ended there,” Mataji Damor, assistant police sub-inspector of Una, who had reached the accident spot, said. The driver had a long-day on road as the bus had left early in the morning on the two-day trip. It was on its way from Tulsishyam to Diu when the accident took place.

Pravin Sadariya, in-charge principal of Juni Mengani school, said the school did not file a complaint at that time, but is contemplating to do so now. “Students were just too scared after the accident and therefore, our priority was to take them back home. Nor did we think prima facie that the injuries to students were that serious. So, we did not file the complaint. But, I have sustained fracture in my hand. The collarbone of one girl has fractured. The bus operator had the insurance cover. Therefore, we have approached an advocate to file a police complaint so that we get compensated against the medical expenditure,” said Sadariya.