Tough road ahead: School buses may not run from Wed

The limit on daily cash withdrawal may force more than 4,000 school buses to go off road from Wednesday, the school bus owners’ association (SBOA) announced on Sunday.

The limit on daily cash withdrawal may force more than 4,000 school buses to go off road from Wednesday, the school bus owners’ association (SBOA) announced on Sunday.

According to the SBOA, operators need Rs1,000 a day to meet the expense of filling petrol or diesel in each school bus. Additionally, Rs200 to Rs300 is kept aside for daily maintenance such as flat tyre or breakdown. “As schools usually have an average of 20 buses, it comes to Rs20,000 a school,” said Anil Garg, president, SBOA.

With the government restricting cash withdrawal to Rs10,000, Garg said they will not have enough cash to meet the expenses. “Petrol pumps will stop accepting old notes from Wednesday. This will make it impossible for buses to run,” said Garg. “Drivers don’t have debit cards. They carry out cash transactions only. There are long queues at the ATM too.”

The association is yet to inform schools. “We will inform the schools by Tuesday,” he said.

The association has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and transport commissioner for help. “It is unfair that we can’t withdraw from our accounts. The demonetisation move was poorly planned and has drastically affected small traders and services,” he said.