UT bus safety measures: Female attendants, police verification of bus staff, cameras and GPS system

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The meeting was attended by school principals, bus operators and other administrative officers.

“Need for putting in place a sound mechanism to ensure safety of girls on buses was appreciated by all present in the meeting. After due deliberations, it was decided that few measures shall be implemented by July 1 on all buses carrying girls, be it for schools, coaching centres or for institutions such as call centre and others,” read the official release of the UT Education Secretary.

According to the first guideline, “lady attendants in uniform, who are at least matriculate, physically fit and are carefully selected by the management of school/coaching centre/ call centre etc and are paid minimum wage by account payee cheque or direct accounts transfer, will travel en route on all school buses till the last girl has gotten off the bus”.

As per the second guideline, all bus operators will get the antecedents of the bus drivers and conductors verified by police within two months, and employ them only after police verification.

The guidelines make it compulsory for all bus contractors to install GPS system that will keep record of routes followed, speed graph and stoppage timings for the past 30 days.

“Cameras shall be installed in buses so as to clearly video-graph and record the whole of inside of the bus during travel. The system shall have enough memory to record such video clips of last 30 days so as to be available in case of a complaint,” noted the guidelines.

As per the orders, it will be the joint responsibility of the management of the school/coaching centre/call centre and the transport company/firm to see that girls are not sent by buses that do not comply with the instructions.

All conditions, except the provision of female attendants, will be followed by all bus contractors even if only boys travel in them.