Rods pierced through the windshield of a school bus in Pune last year, injuring eight children and an attendant. (Express photo)The Maharashtra Government will launch a statewide special drive to check compliance with safety rules for vehicles transporting schoolchildren, School Education Minister Dadaji Bhuse told the Assembly on Friday.Bhuse said the state already has a clear policy on the transportation of school students. Transport committees have been set up at the school level, while district bus safety committees function at the district level to monitor the implementation of the norms, he added.The minister was responding to a question raised by Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh regarding an incident in Thane district in which two students fell from a school van and were injured. MLAs Abhimanyu Pawar, Vitthal Langhe, Nana Patole, and Sanjay Meshram also participated in the discussion.Bhuse said the incident occurred on July 7, 2025, when some students from a private English-medium school in Ambernath were travelling in a van. Two students fell from the vehicle and suffered injuries. He added that the vehicle had been privately arranged by the students’ parents.The police registered a case on the day of the incident, and the regional transport office (RTO) took action against the vehicle the following day, the minister said.Bhuse said the Government had made several safety measures mandatory for school transport. These include verification of drivers, installation of GPS systems and CCTV cameras in buses, appointment of female attendants, training of transport staff, and police verification to ensure drivers have not consumed alcohol or drugs. He added that the education department, the police and the RTO will jointly conduct inspections across the state to ensure strict compliance with school transport safety rules.During the discussion, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said vehicles transporting school students should be issued separate permits. He directed the school education and transport departments to jointly ensure that buses or autorickshaws ferrying students are granted licences only after meeting safety requirements such as CCTV cameras and GPS systems.Story continues below this adNarwekar also said that vehicles transporting students without valid permits should be seized.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Maharashtra assembly