In a significant move to ensure safety of school kids and reducing accident rate of school buses, the Punjab Government on Thursday launched ‘Safe School Vahan’ Scheme.
“Majority of accidents involving school buses happens due to unsafe bus body fabrication and the failure of educational institutions to adopt comprehensive periodical preventive maintenance procedure and lack of driving skills among the bus drivers,” pointed the State Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar.
Stressing upon the need to reduce road accidental deaths, Kohar said reduction in increasing deaths due to road accidents was the call of the hour. “Punjab Government has initiated an elaborate drive to ensure that the road safety norms are being properly implemented,” he added.
For the purpose, a scheme — 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 the Supreme Court rulings,” said Kohar.
The Minister said instructions have been issued to all the district transport authorities to implement the decisions of the transport department. “All the DTOs would be held responsible for any violations of the road safety norms and departmental action would be initiated against him,” he warned.
Kohar added the 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 State-level functions. PUNBUS and Punjab Roadways stood first and second respectively to have committed minimum accidents on roads this year, he pointed. NGOs and other voluntary organisations have also been urged to help the Government in making road safety, a movement of the people by 6 generating mass awareness campaigns ensuring fewer accidents on the roads especially on the highways.
Minister also asked officers at district levels to ensure forceful implementations of the directives. Besides, the Traffic police, together with the Health department, have been asked to immediately handle the emergency in road accidents so that the minimum time be taken in shifting the accident victim to the nearest hospitals.