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Overloaded autos in Ludhiana continue to ferry kids with impunity
Challaning drive against unsafe vehicles only focused on vans, buses
As the special drive launched by the police to check unfit school vehicles after the death of four students in Sangrur on February 15 has fizzled out with time, unsafe school vans and overloaded three-wheelers have started plying on the roads again.
While the police had issued 514 challans and impounded 44 vans for violations under the Safe School Vahan Scheme, the nuisance of overloaded three-wheelers engaged in ferrying students to schools stayed completely unchecked.
Residents said if action had been taken, the incident wherein as many as 10 students were injured after an overloaded auto-rickshaw overturned in a bid to avoid collision with a scooter near Deep Nagar on Tuesday morning could have been avoided.
While the Motor Vehicles Act permits an auto to accommodate four people including the driver, overloaded three-wheelers are commonplace in the city, with some children sitting with their limbs outside the vehicle.
Gurpreet Singh of Sham Nagar said, “If rules are equal for all, then why do the police not take action against such three-wheelers. The police should set rules for three-wheelers carrying students.”
‘DRIVE ON HALT’
Meanwhile, assistant commissioner of police (ACP, traffic) Gurdev Singh said, “The police had halted the drive in view of the examination season to avoid any harassment as checking can keep students from reaching exam centres on time.”
“The drive will be restored as and when the new academic session will start,” Singh said.
