Kids stuck for hours as school buses are caught on waterlogged roads

Bengaluru: Ten-year-old Rahul (name changed) reached home at Sobha Dream Acres, Panathur, from school exhausted and hungry at 6 pm Tuesday. He had left his school, 1.5 km away from his home, at 3pm. His school bus was stuck in a bumper-to-bumper crawl on waterlogged roads before grinding to a halt near the Skanda Moksh on Balagere Road, about 750 metres from his home, where it remained stranded for one and a half hours.
Rahul's ordeal would have been longer if not for the bus driver's alacrity. As he realised the vehicle would not move any further for a long time in the rainwaters, he called up the parents of one of the children in his bus and asked them to arrange an alternative transport to ferry the children. There was water all around, and the parents managed to arrange a tractor. Eight children who were left in the bus were shifted to it and driven home.
"My son was hungry and tired, but he was very excited about the tractor ride. We were extremely worried until he reached home," said Piyush Jaiswal, an IT Professional and father of the 10-year-old.
Rahul's experience was not one-off in the city Tuesday. Three buses of Delhi Public School East were stuck in rainwaters in Panathur and Bellandur. "BBMP officials present at the spot arranged for the children to be shifted to tractors. The children were ferried back home in tractors," said Manila Carvalho, Principal, DPS East. The last bus returned to the school at 6pm.
"The road is pathetic. We are unable to gauge the potholes and their size. There are small children in the bus and they get upset as we are delayed. Some of them are hungry, others want to use the washroom. Today, we were delayed by 1.5 hours. It is extremely stressful," said a school bus driver.
A video of six school buses stranded in water while crying children being shifted to tractors went viral on social media. "Two hours of incessant rain and the roads were waterlogged. We fear for the next 2-3 days with the forecast of more rain. We are now trying to develop self-help groups. In case school buses get stuck, a parent can bring children to the closest apartment and keep them until others' parents can ferry them," said Yogendran G, a resident of Balagere.
"It is extremely unfortunate that even when the new infrastructure was built, it was constructed in such a way that it could not stop waterlogging. The entry holes to the drains are blocked and stormwater drains are not interconnected. Despite knowing about the high chances of water stagnation and incessant rains, why aren't the stormwater drains functional?" he asked.
Parents were exasperated by the end of the day. "The infrastructure is pathetic in the city. Every time it rains, we fear for our children's safety. We have chosen the closest school to send our children, but even then, there is no respite," said a parent from east Bengaluru.
"It was very frustrating. Water was leaking from the bus, everyone was quite hungry. There were a lot of small children. Initially they were playing, but later on, everyone got fed up. Many of us missed our tuition too," said an 11-year-old from Balagere.
Children in other parts of the city were also affected as school buses were stranded for long hours amid traffic and water. Some schools in Mahadevapura were flooded by evening. A few schools dispersed students early as they feared traffic would worsen by late afternoon. As the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner has declared a holiday for schools for Wednesday, several of them quickly announced online classes for students.