The probe into the death of the three school children in a road accident in Sircilla on Wednesday has opened a can of worms. A preliminary probe into the accident revealed that the van ferrying the 26 children had no fitness certificate.
Authorities said that the vehicle’s fitness certificate had expired on May 15.
Sircilla Motor Vehicle Inspector, Kondal Rao, told TNM, “They did not bring this vehicle for seeking a fitness certificate before the schools reopened.” Rao said that the school had three buses, but this particular vehicle was not brought for certification. “We are going to conduct a check on all the vehicles owned by the school,” he added.
The District Education authorities have now written to the District Collector demanding that the school itself be shut down. They have claimed the school management has been running an unauthorized hostel facility and has shifted the school to another facility without proper permissions.
Speaking to TNM, the District Education Officer, K Ramchander said, “We have issued a showcause notice to the school management and have written to the Education Department and the District Collector appealing them to cancel the school’s recognition certificate.”
The DEO said that the school management shifted the school premises to a different building – which was unsuitable to run a school – and was also running a hostel facility 5 kms away without any approval from the government.
“The hostel facility was unauthorized,” the DEO said.
On Wednesday, a school bus carrying 26 children turned turtle after the driver, Rafique, tried to avoid a collision with a median. The accident took place at around 12.15 pm when the children were being taken to have lunch at the hostel. According to the police, Rafique got distracted after he saw a vehicle which was carrying a Ganesh statue approaching from the opposite direction. When he realised the van was about to hit the median, he took a sudden left and as he was losing control of the vehicle, he took a right and suddenly applied the brakes without slowing down. The vehicle flipped and three children – Kasaram Manichandana Rani (age 15), G Deekshitha (8) and G Rishi (7), who were siblings – were thrown out of the van and two of them died on the spot and the third succumbed later.
Police have booked a case against the driver and against RC Rao, a member of the school management, under Indian Penal Code Section 304-A (Causing death by negligence) and 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others).
Meanwhile, all the schools in Vemulawada have declared a holiday to mourn the death of the school children.