Cocking a snook at transport dept, overloaded school vans continue to ferry kids in Lko

Despite repeated enforcement drives by the transport department, privately operated school vans continue to ferry children beyond the permitted capacity in Lucknow, raising concerns over student safety

Despite repeated enforcement drives by the transport department, privately operated school vans continue to ferry children beyond the permitted capacity in Lucknow, raising concerns over student safety.

Overcrowded school vans ferry children near schools in Hazratganj. (Mushtaq Ali/HT)

A ground check by the Hindustan Times in some of the city’s prime areas found several overcrowded school vans.

Near a prominent school in Hazratganj, more than four privately operated vans were seen carrying students beyond their permitted capacity. Several vehicles also lacked basic safety equipment, including fire extinguishers and seat belts.

In one instance, a seven-seater vehicle was found carrying around 13 children, almost twice its designated capacity.

A similar situation was witnessed near a school in Rajajipuram, where privately operated vans were seen ferrying students in overcrowded conditions.

Lucknow alone has 1,308 registered school buses and 2,635 school vans that transport thousands of children to school daily. Despite this, officials acknowledge that sustained monitoring remains a challenge.

Additional transport commissioner K D Singh said the scale of the problem was much larger than the available enforcement capacity. “Lucknow has a wider area with a much higher number of such school vehicles. The Lucknow RTO has only two enforcement officers, which is why such problems are visible,” he said.

The findings come even as the transport department is conducting its ‘Mission Safe Future’ campaign to check the fitness of school vehicles and verify the character of their drivers.

According to department data as of August 13, 82,259 vehicles are being used by 19,680 schools across Uttar Pradesh. Of these, 74,337 vehicles are registered in the names of schools, while another 8,022 are contracted by them. The department found 6,066 school vehicles unfit and issued notices against them.

As part of the ongoing enforcement, teams have issued challans to 1,072 school vehicles and impounded 356 for violations. Character verification of 27,066 school vehicle drivers has also been completed, with schools directed to ensure safety checks of drivers.