Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik, on Thursday, announced in Legislative Assembly the suspension of Regional Transport Officer (City) Kiran Bidkar holding latter responsible for the dereliction of duty in the mishap in Mankapur that claimed life of a school girl student. Sarnaik said, the RTO failed to follow up on notice issued to bus owner about non-renewal of fitness certificate. The Minister, replying to the call attention motion tabled by Dr Nitin Raut, also announced inquiry into affairs of RTO (Rural) and RTO (East) as Dr Raut claimed nearly 10 per cent of 3,883 school buses are running on roads without fitness certificate.

 

The errant bus driver was at fault as he was allegedly speeding when it crashed into a van carrying school students. The incident had occurred in September 2025 and post-inquiry, it brought out the fact that the bus fitness certificate was not renewed. This shows gross negligence on the part of RTO in implementing the rules. The Minister said, the RTO (City), RTO (Rural) and Nagpur (East) are continuously checking vehicles that are not running with valid fitness certificates. So far, 248 cases were registered and fine of Rs 83.06 lakh was realised for violation of rules.

 

When the Member insisted on fixing the responsibility, the Minister said, “The concerned RTO is being suspended for failure to ensure that school buses are not run without valid fitness certificate. The RTO should have followed up on the notice served to the bus owner for not renewing the fitness of the vehicle.” BJP Members Sudhir Mungantiwar and Pravin Datke pressed for strict action against officers to send message to bureaucrats.