Punjab Government  has launched Safe School Vahan Scheme for ensuring safety of School kids and reducing the accident rate of school buses.

Ajit Singh Kohar, Transport Minister, Punjab said majority of accidents involving school buses happen due to unsafe bus body fabrication and the failure of the education institutions to adopt comprehensive periodical preventive maintenance procedure and lack of driving skills among the bus drivers.

Stressing on the need for reducing ‘Road Accidental Deaths’ in the state, he said that the reduction in the increasing deaths due to road accidents was the call of the hour. He said Punjab Government has initiated an elaborate drive to ensure that the road safety norms are being properly implemented. For this purpose a scheme namely 'Safe School Vahan ' has been formulated by the transport department.

School Education Department has been entrusted upon a special responsibility to properly maintain school buses and their use following the norms of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 and Supreme Court rulings.

Kohar said instructions were also issued to all the district transport authorities to implement the decisions of the transport department. He said all the DTOs would be held responsible for any violations of the road safety norms and departmental action would be initiated against him.

The Minister said drivers of the PRTC and PUNBUS who have not met with any accident due to their safe driving on the roads would be awarded at a State-level functions. He said PUNBUS and Punjab Roadways stood first and second respectively to have committed minimum accidents on roads this year.

Kohar has also urged the NGOs and other Voluntary organizers to help the government in making road safety, a movement of the people through generating mass awareness campaigns ensuring fewer accidents on the roads especially on the highways.