Abodh Sharma
Jammu, Feb 8: A day after a twelve year old was crushed to death by a school bus of the Delhi Public School (DPS), serious questions are being raised over the killer fleet of the school which has been operating in contravention of norms and brazen violation of all the directions of the Supreme Court and the State High Court issued from time to time.
The fleet of old and dilapidated 52- seater buses sans all Supreme Court guidelines with regards to school buses except for the yellow colour. While most of these buses are 15-20 years old, they are allowed to enter the city during peak traffic hours despite clear directions of the State High Court that bans entry of heavy vehicles of all kinds in the city during the day. "Most of their buses are close to two decades old, which pose serious threat to the children on board as any time such vehicles can develop snags that can prove fatal," said a concerned parent. "These vehicles were first hired on contract by the school administration from various bus unions, but later it became mandatory for them to acquire the Passenger Service Vehicle permits (PSVs) after the directions of the Apex Court," said an officer of the Transport Department adding, "nobody knows whether the old buses in the fleet do have these permits or not."
Besides serious discrepancies with regards to maintenance of the fleet in accordance with the guidelines of the Apex court, it has become a nagging thorn in the flesh of city's traffic regulation. "DPS school buses have become the biggest headache for us as the school itself is located at the most inconvenient and unviable location," said SSP Traffic Manmohan Singh. "Their 80 buses hijack the city traffic four times a day during the peak hours, but as we proceeded against them under law, they sought a stay from the court the copies of which have been served to the Traffic Police as well as to the RTO Jammu, but nothing has been done to get the stay vacated," the SSP added.
A former SSP traffic sharing the concern said, "we tried to devise a mechanism wherein the children could board and de- board their buses near Jogi gate cremation ground so that these heavy vehicles could be restrained from entering already clogged Residency Road, Gujjar Nagar and Sunder Singh Gurudwara Road, but the school authorities did not cooperate."
Sources also divulged that while administration has been lenient with the DPS due to the political clout of its trustee, the administrator of the school has been wearing his close association with the top police cop on his sleeve to evade any action under law. |
