In its ongoing drive against private school buses that flout rules, the Delhi Transport Department has impounded 250 buses, including 10 being operated by a prominent city school, according to a senior government official.
Enforcement teams from the Department have taken action against the vehicles for various violations, including “serious ones” concerning the documentation of both drivers and conductors, the official said.
It was found that the drivers did not carry PSV (public service vehicle) badges. The conductors also did not meet guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court. As per the law, conductors on a school bus require a licence and must have passed Class X.
In the wake of the recent killing of a seven-year-old boy in Gurugram’s Ryan International and the rape of a five-year-old girl at her school in Shahdara, the Delhi government has formed a high-level committee to look into safety aspects, including transportation of children, at schools.
“There will be no compromise with the safety and security of children and more stringent measures will be taken in future,” said the official.
The high-level committee headed by the director of its Directorate of Education has proposed amendments in the School Cab Policy, 2007, to make schools answerable for buses and cabs ferrying schoolchildren.
According to Transport department officials, over 10,000 private buses and cabs were hired for ferrying school children in the city. The drive against these vehicles has been launched in view of their “compromised” safety measures and other violations.
Besides buses, taxis and vans carrying schoolchildren have also been impounded by the teams of the Transport Department earlier. Till July, 900 vans were impounded and close to 2,000 fined for flouting permit norms as part of the drive, he added.