A day after a school boy was killed in a bus accident after a fall from footboard near Arapalayam, Madurai City Police along with officials from Regional Transport Offices and Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation conducted an awareness programme for students on Tuesday.
"We have been conducting such programmes to students to avoid foot-board travelling which would pose danger to their lives and limbs for the past two weeks," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), S. Arumugasamy.
However, after the accident, the programme was intensified in six places during the peak hour traffic.
Students who were hanging outside the buses were gathered and told about the impending danger by senior officials from the Madurai City Traffic, including Additional Deputy Commissioner, A. Thirumalai Kumar.
The students were warned that the police could impose fine on them if they found foot-board travellers. However, some of the students who were stopped at Moondrumavadi complained that they were forced to travel on foot-board due to lack of adequate number of bus services during peak hours.
The students were told that such issues should be raised with the school teacher and Headmaster, who in turn would alert the TNSTC officials seeking additional buses from specific routes.
The Deputy Commissioner said that they would seek the cooperation of the teachers and parents to impress upon the students to avoid dangerous travelling.
Regional Transport Officer (North), Selvam, and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Mariappan, and Inspectors of Police, were among those took part in the event.
A TNSTC official said that the corporation was ready to operate additional buses based on the demand. However, the crew also complained about students not getting into the bus even when there was adequate space inside.
