School bus operators to strike from Friday

“The authorities keep changing the norms as per their whims and fancies. Whenever there is a mishap,school bus operators are blamed and new conditions are added to the existing norms. Out of the total 23 points mentioned in the norms,we have agreed upon and implemented 16. We do not agree with the seven norms. Therefore,we have demanded that the state government should withdraw a few of these norms and makes changes to others,” said Anil Garg,president of the school bus owners’ association,Maharashtra.

“A proposal was approved by the transport commission’s technical committee after getting the consent of manufacturers,schools,parents and NGOs. However,it awaits a nod from the state government and was submitted at Mantralaya on January 31 last year. Now,unless state government comes up with an urgent solution to our problem,we will not call off the strike this time. We have got 100 per cent support from all over the state,” added Garg.

However,the move has been opposed by the Parents’ Teachers’ Association-United Forum. “The state has to consider suggestions of parents before making any changes to the school bus safety norms. The operators are doing nothing but blackmailing the institutes,parents and even state government. We have already written to the school education department about the issue and there is no way we will accept this,” said Arundhati Chavan,president of PTA- United Forum.

A senior official from state transport department said,“We are already working on a solution to their problem. At the same time we don’t want to compromise on the safety of school kids. As of now,I do not wish to comment on the strike.”