Special drives in pipeline but not all districts on board
LUCKNOW: After the Kushinagar tragedy, a few districts in UP have planned special checking drives for vehicle but a comprehensive effort across the state is missing, say people concerned about the safety of schoolchildren.
Till now, the authorities in Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Lucknow have decided to launch special drives, officials say.
Other districts are yet to chalk out a strategy for such a drive.If figures with the state transport department are to be believed 76.64% school vehicles were checked for fitness and documentation across the state last month. Nevertheless, a statewide plan to keep an eye on those driving with earphones is yet to take shape, says a member of a parents’ welfare body.
SSP, Lucknow, Deepak Kumar, says police will launch a month long drive to sensitive people about the fatal consequences of use of earphones, and other road safety violations by drivers.
He says school and colleges will also be roped in to sensitise students as well as school van and bus drivers. An appeal will be made to the school authorities to allow only such drivers who are properly trained and sensitised about road safety measures, he says. Thereafter, the police will also launch a crack down on such drivers who continue to violate safety norms, especially while transporting students.
PK Srivastava, president of the Parents’ Welfare Association (PWA), says, “No one is actually concerned about students. Schools do not take responsibility for ferrying children while parents are dependent upon whatever vans are available.”
As per records, the state transport department checked 33,720 out of 44,000 vehicles registered as school vans during a special drive across the state a month ago.“That was our drive for school vehicles but the routine checking drives still goes on as usual,” says VK Singh, additional transport commissioner (enforcement). Srivastava says soon after an incident, drive against school vans gains momentum but it fizzles out with some challans against the drivers and seizure of a few vehicles for not complying with rules.
The checking drives make no difference as they are not regular, he says.
“For money, they (van drivers) overload and often drive carelessly. In fact, checking should be regular and not just a formality,” he says.He says the Kushinagar tragedy is another example of how unsafe children are in school vehicles. “You can see every van in the state capital ferrying more children than the vehicle’s capacity,” he says.
An official puts onus on parents too. “Rules say a school vehicle can have 50% more passengers (children) against the seating capacity. Hence, if a van is a six-seater, there can be nine children. But a dozen or even more are seen, which parents can easily check,” says Singh.
In Lucknow, the police department will ask schools not to allow entry of students on bikes unless they have proper driving licence.
“Here too, parents’ cooperation is a must because they (generally) do not prevent children from riding bikes,” the police said. A day after Kushinagar tragedy, traffic police and the RTO carried out a joint drive to check registration of school vans.