Panchkula: School buses off-road, parents troubled

They, however, decided to end the strike after the authorities agreed to give them a time of 10 days to comply with fresh guidelines

Traffic snarls were witnessed outside schools in Panchkula on Monday after school bus operators decided to remain off the roads against the hasty implementation of the new guidelines.

The parents faced a lot of inconvenience as many had to take short leaves to pick up the children from school. Making the situation worse, even autorickshaws and pickup vans also did not ply. (Sant Arora/HT)

They, however, decided to end the strike after the authorities agreed to give them a time of 10 days to comply with fresh guidelines.

About 170 school buses remained off-road after the announcement by the Panchkula School Bus Association regarding the strike on Sunday.

The parents faced a lot of inconvenience as many had to take short leaves to pick up the children from school. Making the situation worse, even autorickshaws and pickup vans also did not ply.

“We are ready to comply with all guidelines but we are only asking for time of about 15 days to comply with the fresh guidelines,” said Surender Kumar of the Panchkula School Bus Association.

The members of the association even met MLA Gian Chand Gupta on Monday who assured them to speak to the authorities if they can be granted time for compliance.

The district administration has asked all school bus operators to follow norms or face strict action. Already about 70 school buses have been impounded. Acting in the wake of the accident at Mahendragarh in which six school children died and around 20 were injured after their bus crashed into a tree, the district administration recently issued fresh guidelines for the school bus operators.

56 school buses challaned in Mohali

After Thursday’s crash of a private school bus in Haryana’s Mahendergarh district which claimed the lives of six children besides leaving several others injured; Mohali police on Monday, in a special drive, challaned a total of 56 private school buses across the district.

Initiating a special drive under the Safe School Vahan Policy, local traffic police checked over 200 school buses.

Zirakpur traffic police challaned a maximum of 26 violators for not having lady attendants, cameras, driver without dress, driving without a seat belt and driving on the wrong side.