With the safety of school children paramount, over 250 school buses have been impounded and fined in the district in the last six months for violating laid down norms. The district Transport authorities have cracked the whip after the death of 11 school children in an accident near Jalandhar when their school bus collided with a truck.
"If we want our children to come back and go to school safely, then it's our duty to act," said SDM Batala, Jagwinder Singh Grewal who also holds the additional charge of District Transport Officer Gurdaspur.
He said the department will crack down when it finds that the school management does not follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court. "No one will be allowed to play with the safety of children," Grewal said.
Grewal said orders have been issued to the school managements falling in the district to follow the instructions of the Apex Court. He said to implement the norms, District Road Safety Council, presided by Deputy Commissioner, Vice President SSP Gurdaspur and Member Secretary DTO, decided and added one more column of norms. This was verification whether the school was registered under Right to Education Act. After registration of schools under RTE, SDM, Revenue officers, Tehsildars and Naib tehsildars will physically examine the vehicles everyday and strong action would be taken against those who violated the guidelines given by the court Grewal added.
Grewal asked the parents to check norms which include painting of school buses in yellow, writing of ‘School Bus’ on the back and front, installation of speed governors, horizontal grills on windows of the bus, fire extinguisher and the name with Telephone No of the school, etc.