Demanding the dismissal of Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla over Sangrur school van accident, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday demanded to set up a regulatory body to check the maintenance of vehicles, their fitness and road worthiness and ensuring safety measures, among other things.
AAP’s senior leader and the Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema also slammed the Capt Amarinder Singh Government for being “insensitive” to the safety and security of school children travelling in private school buses or vans.
Expressing deep shock over the loss of four innocent lives of children who were charred to death in an old and ramshackle school van in Sangrur district, Cheema sought dismissal of Education Minister by the Chief Minister.
Cheema said that it was unfortunate that the government had been insensitive to the cause of the safety and security of the school children by giving a free hand to the transport mafia, jeopardizing their lives. The incidents like those had touched a new high in the State while the government was maintaining a stoic silence over the rising malaise, he added.
Terming Singla as the “most inefficient education minister of the state by far”, Cheema said that the horrific incident was not the first of its kind. Earlier also, recurring incidents of crime against children in the Education Minister’s home district had been pouring in, day in and day out.
Urging the State Government to form a regulatory body to check the maintenance of vehicles, their fitness and roadworthiness and ensuring safety measures, et al, Cheema said that the Government should wake up from its deep slumber to take an urgent call on the safety and security of school children by enacting stringent laws to deal with those flouting safety norms with impunity.
He also sought to bring in a permanent transport policy to keep a constant watch on the entire gamut of hiring private vans or vehicles by the school management.