City schools hire private buses as govt cracks whip GD Goenka death: Decide on plea to lift stay on probe by Oct 15, says SC
NEWDELHI: The Delhi government may have impounded 400 school buses for flouting rules. But sources said the crackdown has not done anything in ensuring the safety of students in the city.
The transport department, as it turns out, has been impounding only the yellow-coloured school buses and not the private ones that often ply illegally.
With their licensed buses seized, schools have now begun to hire private buses for the purpose which is likely to create a bigger safety hazard.
“In some schools, up to 3-4 buses have been impounded. Such schools are hiring private buses to fill the gap. We have to press these buses into action immediately, so there’s no time to verify the drivers and conductors being sent by private transport agencies,” said RC Jain, president of Delhi State Public Schools Management Association.
Fearing seizures of their vehicles, some schools have stopped using their official buses and have asked parents to manage transportation of their children.
According to transport department officials, over 10,000 private buses and cabs are hired for ferrying school children in the city.
When Hindustan Times pointed out the flaw in the department’s enforcement drive, a transport department officials said: “Our focus till now has been on the official school buses only. But, today (Monday) it was brought to our notice that the schools are instead resorting to private buses. Action will be taken against them once school exams are over.”
10 DAYS GIVEN TO ALL DELHI SCHOOLS
Representatives of city schools met Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot on Monday to discuss the crackdown on buses. The government has given the schools 10 days time for their buses to conform to the rules.
“Schools had sought relaxation of certain rules like reducing the qualification of conductors from Class 10 to Class 8. But, we are not going to compromise on the safety of children. However, on the request of school owners, enforcement action will not be taken till September 28 owing to ongoing examinations,” Gahlot told Hindustan Times. NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court has asked the Allahabad High Court to decide by October 15 on a plea to lift the stay imposed on criminal probe ordered into the death of a 9-year-old boy in GD Goenka School, Ghazaibad, last month.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked senior advocate PP Malhotra and advocate Mohit Paul —lawyers for the boy’s father — to approach the HC with their submissions, including their request to transfer the case to CBI for an investigation.
A class 4 student Arman had reportedly died inside the school after a fall. The parents, however, suspect foul play and have demanded an i ndependent inquiry.
The father had moved the top court after the HC restrained the local police from pursuing investigations when the school management approached it for quashing the FIR the parents lodged. A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered against the school authorities . NEWDELHI: Hospitals across Delhi have reported 2,215 cases of dengue this year till September 16, of which 1,177 patients are residents of Delhi, according to the weekly report released by the Municipal Corporations of Delhi. One death due to dengue has been recorded.
The total number of cases recorded this year – including patients coming from neighbouring – is higher than the number of cases recorded during the same period last year (1,378). “However, this year, the number of cases in Delhi citizens is much less than the number of cases the two previous years, when there was an outbreak,” said SM Raheja, in-charge of Delhi government’s dengue control cell.
“Although last year there were more cases of chikungunya, but if we look at both the mosquito borne diseases together, the number of patients coming with chikungunya symptoms is about 50% when compared to the previous year. The number of dengue cases too has become half when compared to 2016,” said Rommel Tickoo, senior consultant, internal medicine at Max hospital, Saket.
The dengue symptoms too are milder this year. This may be because of the DENV3 strain of dengue virus that is in circulation, as compared to the deadlier DENV 2 and 4 strains that were circulating during 2015, which can cause haemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome.
This year, malaria may be more of a challenge than chikungunya. “The herd immunity (immunity of a population against a disease) against malaria has gone down as there were very few cases in the last two or three years,” said a civic body official.