Transport commissioner Deepak Kapoor says private vehicles used to ferry kids will have to be regularised before they can pick up your children
Transport commissioner Deepak Kapoor says private vehicles used to ferry kids will have to be regularised before they can pick up your children
It took more than a year and a new transport commissioner to regularise the private vehicles ferrying school kids. Taking a lesson from the 2008 Millat school incident, the Transport Department is drafting a policy to regulate vehicles used for school kids.
Recently, hundreds of private vehicles were raided and found to be plying illegally. This caused worry and now the Transport Department has taken it up as a challenge. Deepak Kapoor, transport commissioner says, "We are drafting a policy to regulate school vehicles. It's the question of a student's life. Thinking from the economical point of view, many parents send their kids in these vehicles, without verifying the vehicle's actual condition."
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Follow the rules
In Mumbai, there are around 4,000 private vehicles, of which Tata Sumos and Maruti Omnis are the maximum used, to ferry school kids. "We don't want to disturb the parents. They will keep on plying, but will be regulated. They have to follow some rules and regulations," adds Kapoor.
The policy will include points like the driver should have a minimum experience of five years, the vehicle should not be older than ten years, there should a fire extinguisher and first aid box and the carrying capacity should be as per the size of the vehicle. "If private vehicles don't follow these conditions, we will not allow them to ply on roads. We will take strict action against them," adds Kapoor.
More convenient than school buses
According to Kapoor, buses assigned from the school are costly and they have a fixed meeting point. Instead, private vehicles are cheap and take kids from their doors.
Seema Malkani from Andheri, who sends her two kids to school by private van, says, "I have no option. If I opt for the school bus, then I will have to walk for around 10 minutes. I have to do other work also. Private buses are convenient for me."u00a0u00a0
Millat school incident
On January 28, 2008, a Maruti van ferrying 11 tiny tots of the Millat School in Jogeshwari, northwestern suburb of Mumbai, suddenly caught fire. The van was fitted with an LPG cylinder. When driver Rafiq Qureshi switched on the ignition, the vehicle burst into flames, indicating gas leakage. The van was not authorized to ply as a school-van. Former deputy chief minister R R Patil had then assured that the government would take care of the medical bills of the victims, besides allotting a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the families of the injured and Rs one lakh to the families of dead.
Still recovering
Parents Sayyed Muddasir Rehman and Sayeed Saki Ur- Rehman, of two injured children who sustained severe burns, are still fighting for the lives of their kids. Both the children had 60 and 55 per cent burns and reconstructive surgery on them is still going on. Dr Sunil Keswani, cosmetic surgeon, Masina Hospital said, "They are improving, but it will take another two-three years. Only one reconstructive surgery is done and they still have to undergo five-six surgeries of this kind. It's a long task."
u00a0Initially, the school paid the bills. The children get admitted in the general ward every three months.
In another incident in February 2008, a five-year-old boy died after sustaining a head injury in a ramshackle Matador. This vehicle too was ferrying school children without the necessary permit.
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