Hoshiarpur- With the aim of ensuring the safety of school children, a special inspection campaign of school buses was conducted in District Hoshiarpur under the Safe School Vahan Policy. Under this campaign, buses of various schools were inspected in Block Tanda on 16 April and in Block Hajipur on 20 April.
This inspection was conducted as per the orders issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Punjab State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, and the directives of the Deputy Commissioner Hoshiarpur. During this, school buses of DAV School Urmur Tanda, Victoria International School Tanda, Pearl International School Hajipur, and Kohinoor International School Hajipur were inspected.
During the investigation, serious deficiencies were found in several buses, including irregularities such as expired first aid kits, absence of lady attendants, vehicles without passing, lack of speed governors, lack of emergency exits, absence of fire extinguishers, lack of CCTV cameras, carrying children beyond seating capacity, and lack of insurance.
In Block Tanda, a total of 31 school buses were inspected, out of which challans were issued to 9 buses for violating rules. On this occasion, Ranjit Kaur (Social Worker), Jaswinder Singh (Case Worker) from the District Child Protection Unit, Sandeep Singh from the Education Department, and Kulwant Singh ASI and Darshan Singh ASI from the Police Department were present.
Similarly, a total of 18 school buses were inspected in Block Hajipur and challans were issued to 3 buses. On this occasion, Ranjit Kaur, Jaswinder Singh from the District Child Protection Unit, Anu Badial Lady Constable from the Police Department, Jagdish Singh Headmaster from the Education Department, and Abhinesh Kumar from the Regional Transport Authority along with the entire team were present.
The inspection team also spread awareness about the Safe School Vahan Policy in various schools. The District Child Protection Officer stated that the possibility of accidents increases in buses that ignore the rules of this policy. They mentioned that this campaign will continue continuously throughout the district.
The Task Force ordered all school managements to ensure periodic medical check-ups of bus drivers, ensure that drivers and attendants are in uniform, and ensure special safety while boarding and deboarding small children. Additionally, orders were given to immediately rectify the deficiencies found in the buses.