A delegation of All Uttarakhand Parents Association met the transport commissioner on Friday and complained that the transport service providers are charging undue money from the parents to provide transport facility to the students.
The parents informed the transport Commissioner, S Ramaswamy that the service providers charge money for entire year though the schools remain closed for two months in summers and one month in the winters. They alleged that many private schools have made providing transport facility as one of the many devices to extract money from the parents. The delegation asked the transport commissioner to intervene in the issue of public importance.
Ramaswamy assured appropriate measures after consulting all the Regional Transport Officers (RTO) of State. The harassment at the hands of private transport providers is a common problem faced by the parents. Interestingly most of the schools have their own transport vehicles and they force the parents to avail them.
These schools add the transport fees in the monthly tuition fees and like the tuition fee, they charge it for full year period. Some schools however leave it on the discretion of the parents for transport of the kids. There are hundreds of private vehicles who offer transport facility to the students. These vehicles include minibuses, vans, auto rickshaws and Vikrams. These transport providers charge anything between Rs1,500 to Rs3500 per student depending upon the distance from the students.