District Magistrate Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary Wednesday issued an order directing all schools operating in the district to ensure strict adherence to bus safety rules and guidelines.
An official statement said the order comes in the wake ofgrowing complaints and reports of overloading among other practices ofnegligence in school buses putting lives of children on board in risk.
It directs school principals to ensure compliance with allrelevant rules and Supreme Court guidelines aimed at ensuring safety of studentwhile on their way to and from schools. It states that school principals willbe responsible for adherence to the said guidelines and violations thereof.
The order directs for strict carriage as per capacity inschool busses strictly warning against carriage that is in excess of theirseating capacity. It also directs for having seat-belts on seats of vehiclesused as school busses and ensuring these remain fastened while the vehicle ismoving.
It directs that all school buses used for ferrying studentsmust have proper passenger vehicle permits issued by the competent authority.It also directs that those hired for driving schools buses must have minimumfive years of experience in driving passenger vehicle. It said that hired drivers must not have anypast record of traffic offences.
The order also directs that all school buses must have anattendant on them to look after the children onboard. It directs that allschools buses must also have first-aid boxes and portable drinking wateravailable on them just in case the children on board need these facilities.
It also instructs that all vehicles used as school busesmust have the name and telephone number of the school and “On SchoolDuty” written on them both at the sides and the front and back thereof.
The order directs the concerned authorities to seize allsuch vehicles as found violating any of the relevant guidelines in this regardor instructions as stated in this order. It states that seizure memos will have”seized for adopting practices in violation of Supreme Courtguidelines” noted thereon as reason for seizure in order to ensurestrictest punishments.
The DM has urged the public in general and the parents ofschool children in particular to report instances of violations of the order tohis office assuring of immediate and the strictest action under law againstprincipals whose school buses are found violating any of the bus safety rulesor the said instructions.
School principals have been instructed to immediatelyconvene parent-teacher meetings on the subject being also asked to make minutesof these meetings to be made available for inspection as and when asked.
The order also instructs all schools in the district toconstitute road safety clubs and convey details thereof to the SSP Traffic andRTO Kashmir who will organise relevant training for members thereof.