School bus touches electricity wires in Gurgaon, 25 students and staff have a narrow escape

The bus was stuck while crossing the stretch after the wires got entangled in its roof. The cables were hanging low after an electric pole was damaged during construction work on the road.

Nearly 25 students and three employees of Delhi Public School Ghaziabad (DPSG) had a narrow escape after their school bus came in touch with dangling electricity wires at Kabir Chowk in Gurgaon’s Palam Vihar on Monday morning.

The school bus that came in touch with electricity wires .

Fortunately, there was no electricity at that time and the students were quickly deboarded from the bus.

The bus was stuck while crossing the stretch after the wires got entangled in its roof. The cables were hanging low after an electric pole was damaged during construction work on the road.

After the bus was emptied, local residents and the staff held the wires high enough with wooden sticks so that the bus could pass through.

The incident took place around 7:30 am when the bus of DPSG Palam Vihar picked up students from Pratap Nagar and was on its way to the school.

There were two female teachers, one lady attendant, the bus driver and 25 students. Residents said they had complained to the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHVBN) many times but they were not taking the issue seriously.

“There was no power on Monday when the bus crossed the stretch. What if there was electricity, it would have led to a serious mishap,” said Mahesh Arora, a resident of Pratap Nagar.

A DHVBN team was rushed to the spot later and the pole and transformer was fixed resolved.

“The contractor had to dig the land and there was no support for the electric pole due to which it got tilted. We had disconnected electricity supply and it was restored only after the pole and transformer were repaired on Monday evening,” said a DHVBN official who sought anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.

The school management said they would now send buses with low height on this route. “The cables were lying low due to some construction.The incident was reported by our staff members and we changed the bus on that route,” said Sudhir Chitnis, senior administrator, DPSG, said.

Mishaps involving school buses are not new in Gurgaon.

On August 25, a school bus hit an electric pole near Dera Sacha Sauda ashram at South City-2 in Sector 51. The bus conductor was allegedly testing his driving skills as the driver was away. There was a girl student inside the bus but no one was injured.

On January 30, a school bus carrying 35 students and four employees of a private school caught fire near the Huda city centre metro station. The children were rescued in time but the bus was burnt.