105 students squashed like sardines in a bus with 57 seats
BUTWAL, May 13: These days, private schools charge their students exorbitantly high fees under various heads including bus fare. However, some schools have been found torturing their students by compelling them to travel in overcrowded vehicles despite charging a huge amount of money for transportation.
A boarding school in Rupandehi was found to have loaded 105 little students in its bus which had only 57 seats. The students carrying heavy school bags on their backs in the over-crowded bus in the soaring temperature of Tarai were sweating profusely.
Action taken against drivers driving school buses under influen...
The school bus belonged to Paramount Boarding Higher Secondary School of Shankar Nagar, Rupandehi. The overloaded bus (Na 8 2746) which was caryying many more students than its capacity caught the attention of the traffic police. However, the police let the bus go after a casual warning.
Despite being warned, the bus was again found carrying too many students on Friday as well. The police decided to take action against the bus this time.
As private schools are found risking the lives of students by forcing them to travel in over-crowded buses despite charging high transportation fares, Rupandehi Police has started a campaign to take action against such school buses. This campaign was also launched after repeated complaints of parents regarding the safety of their children in overcrowded school buses.
In the last two days, police have impounded 10 buses of seven schools. Similarly, 98 buses have been warned, according to Dharmaraj Bhandari, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) at the District Police Office (DPO), Rupandehi. “If they keep ignoring our request, we will be taking stern action against them,” said DSP Bhandari.Apart from Paramount, Brihaspati College of Bhairahawa, New Era Boarding School, Siddhartha Memorial School, Galaxy Boarding School, Unique Homes English School, Kanti Secondary School, among others, were punished in two days, according to the inspection team deployed by the traffic police.
Traffic police will be taking the documents of such buses under control. This campaign has been launched to ensure safety of students and curb the risk of accidents, say the traffic police officials.
