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| School children packed inside Auto rickshaws | | |
ARTEEV SHARMA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 3: Throwing safety norms to winds, autorickshaw operators offering chartered service to ferry school kids put their lives at a greater risk-courtesy absence of any check on roads.
Though traffic rules in the city have always been at the mercy of traffic cops stationed on various roads, the autorickshaw operators not only flout rules with impunity but it also exposes the nexus between cops and auto drivers.
In violation of traffic regulations, these vehicles continue to overload and speed up beyond the permissible limit. As per rules, an autorickshaw cannot ferry more than five children, but these generally ferry 10-15.
"It is pathetic to see autorickshaws packed with 10 and sometimes 12 children precariously hanging onto whatever little space is available in the vehicle that too, stuffed with their school bags and launch boxes. The autorickshaw operators have created extra space for the children by making them in the portion where luggage and school bags are supposed to be kept while some of them have made small children sit on a narrow plank from where they are almost hanging out of the vehicle," a commuter told Early Times.
It, sometimes, makes virtually impossible for the driver to see what traffic is coming along the side-ways. The bumpy rides and sharp turns taken by the speeding school auto-rickshaw drivers make it completely impossible for school children to balance themselves on their way to and from the school.
"It might be a fun for the children and cheaper mode of transport for parents but over crowding children in these vehicles means putting the lives of school kids at greater risk, who innocently accepts whatever wrong or right we pass on to them," he lamented.
Interestingly, many schools have simply shed the responsibility of transporting the students by not providing any such facility to them. The schools having private bus operators as the "unofficial" means of school transport justify their indifference by saying: "If the transport people are not behaving responsibly, the matter is for the parents to settle."
An auto driver, Kuldeep Kumar said, "Parents hardly give Rs 300 per month per child and if we stick to four children per auto, it will not cover our fuel cost."
"The parents are needed to be blamed for the mess. If the autorickshaw operators are blamed for violating norms, the parents for the sake of meager amount put the lives of their children at stake," he said.
Samriti Sharma, a housewife, who kids aged between 9 years and 11 years residing at Jullakha Mohalla said, "School buses don't enter narrow roads of the city and we have to go to the main road at Panjthirthi and wait till the bus comes. Even during drop-time, we have to go and wait until the bus comes and the timings are not always the same."
She, however, finds autorickshaw convenient as the auto-driver honks and waits for the kids, delivers right at the door step and she does not have to wait in the morning or afternoon to get her kids. She also puts low-cost as a factor to opt for autorickshaw.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Zahid Manhas admitted that autorickshaw drivers generally violate norms vis-à-vis ferrying of school children on city roads.
"We challan them for violation of norms and if they don't stop violation their driving licences gets cancelled. We also cancel their route permit," he maintained.
The SSP further informed that the department has hiked the challan fee so that traffic violations on roads are reduced. "We have also intensified our drive against the offenders and we have been generating nearly Rs one lakh as fine fee through penalizing the violators," he maintained.
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