WITH the arrival of spring, everything seems to gain back life. One of the events which mark the arrival of spring is the opening of schools after a long winter break in this summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir. The school buses and vans hit back the road to ferry the students of various age groups. This is a common sight on roads in the morning and evening hours. But has someone noticed the school vans, which ferry children as small as one year old baby to the so called crèche-cum-preparatory schools. The drivers pack their vans as much as they can with these toddlers. Almost every van which carry students have got their seating style modified to carry more and more kids. Children being carried to schools in vans could literally be sitting on one another.
  Keeping in view the condition of roads in the City it won’t be a surprise to get a vehicle turn turtle. And as if this was not enough for our worries, there is another big issue which is almost ignored. These kids carrying vans are Chalta-Phirta time bombs as most of such vans in the City run on cooking LPG gas cylinders, mostly hidden under seats.
 This is the carelessness on part of the school authorities. They allow use of these vans only to earn some extra cash by spending comparatively less as compared to other fuel options.
 What if these gas cylinders catch fire or simply explode? Who will stand responsible, school, driver, traffic cops or parents? No one cares about the safety of these kids; not the school authority; not the traffic police even parents seems less concerned about their wards being carried like cattles, and those parents who show concern couldn’t find an ear to hear their complaint.
 These vans pass under the traffic cops noses every day, yet they are unmoved. The authorities must be made answerable that how come they allow LPG cylinder run vans to ferry kids?
“Shah Aashiq Hussain
Shahhussain06@rediff.com”
 (The ideas expressed are author’s own)

Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 IST