Pune Mirror: Pune: Monday,
April 14, 2014.
The recent
sexual abuse of a four-year-old girl has brought several lacunas in school bus
safety norms into focus. However, a parallel line of private and illegal school
transportation is doing brisk business, even as traffic police and the Regional
Transport Office (RTO) remain unaware.
Apart from
buses, vans, usually Maruti Omnis, are used to ferry schoolchildren. Some
months ago, the Pune Zilla Shaley Vidhyarthi Sanghatana, a district-level
school transport organisation, had conducted a survey of the total number of
school vans in the city and then filed a query under the Right to Information
(RTI) Act regarding the total number of permits.
According to
information under the RTI, of the 8,000 vans ferrying school children, only
1,104 vans have been issued school transport permits. This means most of the
vans are not lawfully permitted to carry school kids.
Vehicles used
to ferry school children need at least a contract carriage permit and a
distinctive yellow number plate. The permit needs to be renewed every year
after the vehicle is tested for fitness, and an annual tax is paid.
“Initially,
vans were not included in the ambit of school transportation. However, through
certain amendments, the State government made Maruti Omni vans acceptable as
school transport in 2010, and the 2011 safety policy is applicable for these
vans.
Insurance and
taxes on these vans come to around Rs 22,000 per year. However, van operators
are unwilling to pay the amount, and therefore do not apply for the school
transport permit. Instead, they work around police and RTO officials in their
area and pay monthly charges. They run these vans on domestic LPG gas and
provide services at cheaper rate,” said a senior RTO official on condition of
anonymity.
Sampat
Pacharne, president, Pune Zilla Shaley Vidhyarthi Sanghatana said, “A higher
amount of tax is not the sole reason for the lack of permits. The concerned
school needs to write a permission letter for the van operator to be handed
over to the RTO. Having given permission, the school will have to conduct
regular inspections of these vans. Most schools are unwilling to give this
letter because they do not want the responsibility of these checks.”
Pacharne
added, “Last month, we wrote to the State government, demanding that instead of
individual schools, the education department should have the right to give
permission for RTO permits.”
“Along with
errant school buses, strict action will be taken against these vans too. The
role of the school and parents is equally important. They should not allow such
vans to be used for school transportation at all,” said Vishwas Pandhare, DCP,
(Traffic).
“We have
scheduled a meeting on April 22 with all schools, bus and van operators and
these issues will be addressed. We will frame a proper policy for the upcoming academic
year,” said Jitendra Patil, RTO, Pune.
Insurance,
taxes are ` 22,000 per year. Van operators are unwilling to pay, and therefore
do not apply for the permit
Senior RTO
official
Violations
:
·
Illegal
vans have white number plates instead of yellow
· The
driver should wear a badge which shows he is permitted to operate a public
vehicle. However, most drivers do not have such badges
· Many
of the vans have dark film on the windows and rear glass, blocking views of the
interior
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