After giving a strict warning to parents and school authorities asking them not to use unauthorised vehicles to transport school children, the Transport Department on Saturday seized 10 vehicles belonging to a private school, which were operating without valid permits.
The department has issued a set of guidelines for schools and parents to ensure that kids are not packed into unsafe vehicles and ferried to school and back. However, with the starting of schools early last month, several vehicles had started ferrying children without taking any of the precautions like painting the vehicle a bright yellow or putting stickers warning other motorists that the vehicle was a school cab.
Officials had warned all stakeholders that enforcement would begin shortly in order to make sure the guidelines were being followed. “From today, stringent action has started and such illegal school vans will be seized. The drives will continue,” said a senior transport department official.
Children travelling in the seized vehicles were transported back to their houses safely, officials said. “All care will be taken in the future as well to ensure that the school children reach home safely. However we appeal to parents to not send their children in such unsafe school vans,” the official said.
