Vehicles overloading school students face crackdown

Children jostling for space in school vans and auto-rickshaws is a common sight these days in the Pink City.

The traffic police will continue its crackdown on school vans and auto-rickshaws in Jaipur for herding students beyond their capacity.

An overloaded auto ferries schoolchildren in Jaipur.(Prabhakar Sharma/Ht Photo)

“We have instructed traffic police officials in all parts of the city to show zero tolerance towards vehicles overloaded with schoolchildren,” deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Haider Ali Zaidi told Hindustan Times on Saturday.

“After identifying such vehicles, we will initiate appropriate action against them. We will also notify the RTOs concerned about the drive,” Zaidi said.

Children jostling for space in school vans and auto-rickshaws is a common sight these days in the Pink City. The packed vehicles pose threat to the students’ safety.

According to the transport department data, 76 such vehicles have been hauled up in Jaipur between April 2016 and February this year.

“We have taken a number of initiatives to spread awareness against such overloaded vehicles ferrying schoolchildren,” said Kalpana Agarwal, Jaipur regional transport officer (RTO). “Activities such as road safety weeks are important to make people understand the threat these vehicles pose.”

Drivers are warned against overloading at the time of issuing permits to vehicles to transport schoolchildren, officials said.

“We have also formed mobile inspection units that make rounds of the city to catch overloading vehicles red-handed,” said Agarwal.

Around 600 drivers were imparted training last year by the Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR) and other such institutions.

People were made to understand the importance of safe driving during the Road Safety Week, organised between January 30 and February 6, officials said.