School vans returned on the roads after a five-day strike to protest against the administration crackdown against overloading. The East Singhbhum district transport officer Sanjay Kujur had issued a circular of the State Transport Department on July 6 on the number of students (below 12 years) and number of passengers (12 years and above ) allowed in different vehicles.Meanwhile, School Vahan Chalak Sangh president Santosh Mandal said that they have no choice but to increase the fare in order to adhere to the guidelines of the transport department.
“We are forced to increase the fare as we would not be able to earn anything from the business. However, we will finalise the rate after meeting with drivers of different routes and till that happens no driver will be allowed to charge extra amount,” said Santosh Mandal.DSP traffic Vivekanand Thakur admitted that there was no campaign against overloaded school pool vans on Wednesday. “We want the school vans drivers to obey the new guidelines of the district administration. We cannot begin the crackdown from tomorrow as our force will be on duty for CM’s program in city. However, we will again start the crackdown if required,” said traffic DSP.
Meanwhile the parents are a worried lot. “At present I pay Rs500 fare each for my two children (studying in loyola School and St Mary’s English School) supposedly if the seating capacity is brought down than we would be asked (by pickup vehicles) to pay more to compensate the loss,” said Rakesh Prasad, a resident of Jugsalai.The schools, largely the Private run English Medium Schools, are not keen to make public their stand on the issue. “It’s between the administration, vehicle owners and parents to resolve the matter all we want is, safe transportation of the children,” said a school principal.
Notably, beside 150 vans, there are over 2,000 auto-rickshaw engaged in carrying school children. In some of the auto-rickshaw as many as 24 children could be seen traveling just like chicken stuffed in a basket. As the auto-rickshaw operators have to maintain the school timing, they ply the vehicles at breakneck speed with so many children aboard the vehicles. As a result of the situation, the children often fall victim to mishaps like falling off the vehicle.