School autos continue to pose threat to students’ lives

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 11

Despite strict instructions of the District Road Safety Committee, formulated by the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to enforce the traffic rules among school transports, auto-rickshaws here are still violating norms, endangering the lives of school students.

A number of auto-rickshaws in a dilapidated state can be easily seen ferrying schoolchidren in the city.

A committee was recently formulated by the DC to oversee the stringent adherence to the traffic rules among school transport in the district schools. It was also then categorically declared that strict action would be initiated against school principals whose students were found travelling in auto-rickshaws (as this was not permitted by the law).

DC KK Yadav, along with District Transport Officer RP Singh, had formulated a committee headed by the DTO to ensure the proper adherence of rules formulated for the safety of school students in various transport vehicles. The Commissioner of Police Jalandhar, Additional Commissioner (Traffic), senior police officials, DEOs (Secondary and Elementary) and NGO representatives Surinder Saini and Sanjay Goyal were made part of the committee.

The committee had recently also held a series of meetings with auto-rickshaw unions and warned them of strict action. The committee had been telling the auto-rickshaw drivers to replace their autos with four-wheelers if they wanted to ferry school kids, but these instructions were not being followed in letter and spirit.

“It is not possible for us to immediately replace auto-rickshaws with four-wheelers. We are poor, hence cannot bear the sudden burden of buying new four-wheelers. If the government is really interested in the issue, it should provide us autos at subsidised rates,” Surinder Singh, an auto-rickshaw driver said.