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Chandigarh: School bus operators demand tax waiver
School buses are still missing from roads in Chandigarh; school bus operators say that they are still reeling under losses caused by Covid-induced lockdown and asked administration for a tax waiver
Even as the UT administration has allowed all private and government schools to start physical classes from primary classes onwards and the attendance has started increasing, school buses are still missing from roads. School bus operators say that they are reeling under losses caused by the Covid-induced lockdown and will be unable to run buses till the administration waives off their tax payments for the lockdown period.
Chandigarh School Bus Operators Welfare Association general secretary Jiwan Rattan Sharma said, “Our buses were grounded throughout the lockdown and many of them need to be serviced and repaired. The administration is not giving us any subsidy for this, instead of asking us to pay road tax for a period when these vehicles weren’t functional.”
He said though many schools were asking them to resume the bus service, they couldn’t start unless the administration gives them relief. “We demand an exemption from January 2021 to March 2022 and an extension in the life span of school buses to account for the two-year period for which they were not used,” Sharma added.
Meanwhile, schools have also reported a higher percentage of parents who are opting for school buses. Strawberry Fields High School, Sector 26, has three out of 13 buses running. “The response has been feasible and from December 1 onwards, we plan to run six of the total 13 buses. However, it is still too soon to start plying all buses,” Atul Khanna, director, Strawberry Fields High School, said.
Similarly, Vivek High School, Sector 38, has also been running six buses for around 130 students. Chairman of the school HS Mamik said the attendance in junior classes had gone over 90% and the schools themselves were subsidising bus travel to aid transporters.
Principal of St John’s High School, Sector 26, Kavita Das added, “With exams going on right now, we aren’t running school buses yet, but we are working on starting them once exams get over.” She added that with buses completely on a standstill since March 2020, it would take significant investment to get them started, but this is what parents are demanding with attendance going over 50% for offline classes here.
Parents are also demanding that the bus service be resumed. Many of them are unable to send their children to school because the buses aren’t plying yet.
