The Jammu regional transport office (RTO) on Tuesday intensified its crackdown on private school van operators flouting safety norms and seized eight buses of a school, officials said.
The crackdown, launched on Monday, will continue for a month and will cover 10 districts in Jammu, said Jammu RTO Jasmeet Singh.
As part of the one-month drive to ensure the safety and security of small schoolchildren, we have launched a crackdown on private school van operators, said Singh.
“Our prime concern is the safety and security of schoolchildren. We have been telling these van operators to comply with our directions like having CCTV cameras, fire extinguishers, and first aid kit besides displaying conspicuously,” said Singh.
Stressing the need to follow the rules, he said, “No school van or private bus older than 15 years shall be allowed to ferry children. To begin with we are targeting big schools, which have the resources to have their own school transport,” he said.
On Monday, the 11 school vans and a bus of a school were sized.
“Today, we seized eight buses of Heritage School in Sainik Colony. We have issued a stern warning to Presentation Convent School. This drive will continue for 30 days,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Today, we seized eight buses of Heritage School in Sainik Colony. We have issued a stern warning to Presentation Convent School. This drive will continue for 30 days,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The focus is on safety violations, overloading, and improper documentation. “Under no circumstances, we will allow overloading of children in vans. I personally checked such vans and saw how badly small children were herded into them,” he added.
It is pertinent to mention that on April 16, Anjali Choudhary, 19, died after she fell off a recklessly driven bus in Udhampur district on Thursday morning around 10.30. She was en route to Patnitop from Government College for women in Gandhi Nagar for a picnic with her classmates.