Surakshit School Vahan policy ‘silent’ on autos, e-rickshaws

POLICY WAS FORMULATED BY TRANSPORT DEPT IN 2014

KARNAL: While the authorities launched a statewide crackdown against the private bus owners, after the school bus accident in Mahendergarh, the death of an 8-year-old student in Yamunanagar after the autorickshaw she was travelling in collided with a bike has highlighted the fact that three-wheelers and other vehicles carrying the students continue to flout norms.

Usually, the autorickshaws are allowed to carry three passengers at a time and e-rikshaws are allowed four. But it is normal to see these vehicles overloaded. There were six students in the auto when it met with an accident in Yamunanagar.

Scores of buses have been checked since the Mahendergarh mishap. In Yamunanagar, the RTA also carried out checking of 78 school buses on Monday, out of which fitness certificate was not found in 12 of them, while challans worth ₹75,000 were issued to 18 buses for irregularities.

While in Karnal, the department checked a total of 421 buses in the city and fitness certificates were not found in two of them and challans were issued.

The drive was halted on Monday after a delegation of the Haryana Progressive Schools Conference met transport minister Aseem Goel and later with the department officials.

The schools have been given 10 days to complete all formalities and the checking will begin again on April 26, officials said.

However, there is no seeming action against vehicles other than buses, for which Surakshit School Vahan policy is also ‘silent’, a top official said.

The policy, formulated by the transport department in 2014, came into existence to ensure safer transportation of schoolchildren in the state. Under this, three committees were constituted and were mandated to meet from time to time to evolve an action plan to enforce the norms. It was also mandated to carry out inspection of school buses, checking the CCTVs, GPS, safety gears and speed governor in buses.

Police investigation also revealed that besides being overloaded the passing certificate of the auto ferrying students in Yamunanagar was also expired.

The passing of such vehicles has to be done every two years and after eight years of registration this has to be done annually, Surender Saini, inspector, RTA department said.