40 school buses challaned in Fatehgarh Sahib

Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, Februray 17

After the tragic incident at Longowal in which four children were charred in school van, the district administration launched a drive to check all school buses to curb the violation of the Punjab Safe School Vahan Scheme.

The Deputy Commissioner (DC), Fathergarh Sahib, Amrit Kaur Gill, directed all SDMs to conduct surprise checking of school buses regularly and take strict action against violators.

The SDM, Fatehgarh Sahib, Dr Sanjeev Kumar, along with tehsildar Gurjinder Singh and district child protection officer HS Mehmi checked school buses on different routes. Eighteen buses of different schools were challaned for violating the High Court guidelines during the drive.

The DC had constituted a district-level committee to implement the Safe Vahan Policy in the district and challan offenders, the SDM said.

“As per guidelines every school bus must have a lady attendant, speed governor, CCTV cameras, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, five year experience and fitness certificate of driver and not a single student more than seats in a bus,” the SDM added.

“If any student suffers any sort of loss during travelling, legal action will be initiated against the school principal and conductor of the bus. If any bus is found violating guidelines school principal will be held responsible and suitable action will be initiated as it is his/her duty to ensure safety of school students,” the SDM said.

Similarly, the SDM, Amloh, Anand Sagar Sharma, along with traffic police conducted surprise checking of school buses in Mandi Gobindgarh. Twenty two buses violating guidelines were challaned during the drive. Two buses were impounded as their owners failed to produce any document.

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