Close to 4,000 school bus operators in Calcutta and adjoining areas have requested chief minister Mamata Banerjee to waive fines on lapsed fitness certificates and road tax as they have been out of business for over seven months.

Vehicles have been in garages as schools are shut and it is discriminatory on the government’s part to offer certain sops to private bus and minibus operators, several school bus operators said.

On Wednesday, the government had announced waiver of fines on lapsed fitness certificates, driving licence and road permits from January 1 for all vehicles and asked owners to pay the fees by June 30, 2021.

Even though the government’s waiver is meant for all vehicles, including commercial ones, there is no clear mention about contract carriage bus operators who run school buses.

Senior government officials said on Thursday they were still to get a notification of the decision and so couldn't say for sure if contract carriage operators had been included or not.

“We have been paying road tax of around Rs 4,000 for every quarter even though private bus and minibus owners have stopped because of the government's relaxations,” Himadri Ganguly of the West Bengal Contract Carriage Owners and Operators Association said. “Neither the schools nor the guardians are ready to pay even half the amount that we had requested for. How do school bus owners survive?”

“We hope the chief minister will look into our problems and find a way out,” Ganguly said. “She has been very sympathetic towards bus and minibus operators.”

In August, the state government had waived all taxes for bus and minibus owners till September 30 and also the annual component of the permit fee bringing to bus operators a relief of around Rs 2,000 for each bus. School buses did not get that relief.

School bus owners said the fees for renewing a fitness certificate was around Rs 800 but all pending taxes needed to be cleared before it could be done.

“Unlike private buses and minibuses, we don't operate throughout the day and there are several conditions that have to be met for obtaining a permit to run a school bus,” a school bus owner who caters to several schools in and around parts of north Calcutta said. “The insurance fee is around Rs 45,000 to Rs 55,000.”

The government is still to decide on the reopening of schools.

“A driver needs to be paid Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000, a helper Rs 8,000 and an attendant, which includes women at times, Rs 7,000. Over half the year is gone. How long can we pull through?” a school bus owner asked.

Police said fines on lapsed fitness certificates for contract carriage bus owners was Rs 3,000 for the first offence and Rs 6,000 for every subsequent ones.