Jamshedpur : After facing flak from district administration for overloading, school van operators have now decided to take steps for safety of the children.
Jamshedpur School Vahan Seva Sanchalak Samiti, an apex body with over 4,000 van operators in city, has directed all the school van operators to install iron wires on side, rear and back windows of auto-rickshaws and vans at the earliest for safety of students.
�We were shocked after a Kg student of Telco-based Gulmohur School primary section sustained serious injury after falling off from a school van as the gate of the van opened.
To prevent such incident we have asked all van operators to install the iron wires which would act as protective sheath against kids from falling down,� said the samity general secretary Santosh Mandal.
Incidentally, Saksham Tiwary, son of Tarkeshwar Tiwary, a Tata Motors employee and a KG student of Gulmohur School had to be hospitalized for the injury sustained from the school van on July 8.
The samity had also brought an autorickshaw fitted with iron mesh for the benefit of the drivers of school pool van operators near Keenan Stadium.
�We wanted to spread awareness of how to install iron wires/ mesh on vehicles and brought the vehicles before the drivers. The drivers have been asked to install the iron wires/mesh at the earliest on their vehicles,� said Mandal.
According to Samity members, the installation of such wires would cost between Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 per vehicle. In another move, the samity members have also been asked to install first aid boxes with emergency medicines for bruises in their vehicles mandatorily.
Incidentally, the samity had issued a cellphone number – 7543912315 – for parents to lodge complaints against any arbitrary fare hike between 9am and 1pm on July 8 last.
A group of autorickshaw and van drivers who carry school children have taken the responsibility to also monitor overloading in vehicles.
They have formed the samity with about 200 members have initiated a project to co-operate with the district administration and to organise the system that would benefit students, parents and themselves. The organisation recently conducted a meeting in front of the Sacred Heart Convent School.
” We want to coordinate with the administration. We are trying to do something for the first time in so many years.
The idea is to reduce the risk of the children are being ferried totally on risk and the administration has been trying to crackdown but nothing quite yielded result.
Therefore, we took this as our responsibility to monitor and also make the drivers counsel against overloading,” said, a member of the School Vahan Chalan Sangh.