23 March,2017 09:50 AM IST | | Pallavi Smart
With school van owners anyway violating norms by ferrying way too many students, here's a new horror - sitting on CNG cylinders
Children made to sit on top of the CNG cylinder in the van due to lack of space
Any vehicle having less than 13 seats is not allowed to ferry schoolchildren. But then there are some who have never let rules come in their way of functioning. School vans in Mumbai continue to operate blatantly violating regulations and putting children's lives at risk.
The most recent instance happened in Dadar, where some children were made to sit on top of the CNG cylinder at the back of the van for lack of space.
Blatant violation
"This is immensely dangerous. Who has control over what happens on the road? I was shocked to see five of them made to sit on the last seat in the Omni van, right above the gas cylinder. It is important to know whether parents are aware of the fact that their children are put in such dangerous situations. They need to be proactive in demanding safety for their kids," said Mahadev Nadkarni, a professional from the service industry who works in Dadar and spotted one such vehicle.
The alert citizen, who took a photograph of the incident and forwarded it to mid-day, added, "I won't even go to the fact of children being pushed and packed inside such a small van. There were around 10 on the seat in the middle, which, at best, can accommodate a maximum of four adults at a time."
When contacted, van owner Bastin Fernandes admitted to the fact that children are made to sit on the gas cylinder. "We have prepared a proper seat on it though, which is usually used for keeping bags. But with exam time on, we have to ferry more than the usual number at the same time due to similar timings. Hence this arrangement," she said, adding that her van ferries children from IES's Modern English Medium School in Dadar (West).
Parents' role
Parent of a student from the Dadar school Prasad Tulaskar said, "IES has its own buses. There might be some private vans operating for a few parents. In that case, parents need to be more cautious and make sure that their children's safety is taken care of."
Satish Nayak, trustee of the Indian Education Society, which runs the school, was not available for comment.
Managing trustee of the V Citizen's Action Network Indrani Malkani said, "This is not only dangerous, but also a criminal act. What the parents are doing here also has to be reviewed. First of all, vans should not be allowed to run for schools as per the regulation, considering they don't have the required number of seats (13). How such vehicles are getting permits is a question the authorities need to be asked."
Despite repeated attempts, deputy director of education BB Chavan remained unavailable.
