Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, May 6: Taking undue advantage of urgency for implementation of Supreme Court guidelines on school buses, some unscrupulous suppliers allegedly managed sale of unapproved Speed Governors, which were not fit for the vehicle models and thus played with the lives of children in Jammu and Kashmir.
Before the higher authorities in Transport Department came to know about the scam, a number of school vehicles had been issued Fitness Certificates after inspection for the same, including fitment of Speed Governors devices though unapproved, sources informed the EXCELSIOR.
As these unapproved Speed Governors were allegedly sold on fake bills without paying sale tax, the illegal malpractice also robbed the State of its revenue worth lakhs of rupees, sources added.
Pertinent to mention that Speed Governor or Speed Limitation Device (SLD) is a micro-controller based electronic unit, which controls speed of the vehicle within the preset limit. It is governed by technical standard AIS 018 and has to be approved from testing agencies ARAI/ICAT. Separate approval is required for vehicles of each model on which it has to be fitted.
As per one of the most significant guidelines by Supreme Court on school buses, the vehicles must be fitted with Speed Governors to avoid road mishaps due to over speeding and rash driving.
Even as the Transport authorities geared up on war footing for implementation of SC guidelines on school buses by January this year soon after the tragic accident, the non-availability of Speed Governors or Speed Limitation Devices in the local market hit the progress in this regard.
Taking undue advantage of the situation, a few agencies in alleged collusion with some Transport officials, who might be unaware of technical standards of the device, managed sale of unapproved Speed Governors and got them fitted in school vehicles, sources explained.
In some cases, reused Speed Governors with dummy Electronic Control Units with Micro-controllers and other vital electronic components were allegedly sold by the dealers after producing fake bills, sources claimed.
When contacted, Chief Inspector Board of Inspection Jammu, Jugal Kishore said that to ensure genuineness of the Speed Governors, the Transport authorities have asked the supplying agencies to submit Approval Certificates of their product. He also admitted that a few suppliers have so far failed to submit the Approval Certificate of their products.
“We have strict instructions from the Transport Commissioner and RTO Jammu for compliance of Supreme Court guidelines while issuing Fitness Certificates to the school vehicles and no compromise will be made on the standards,” he maintained.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel