Jammu, July 15 (KNO) : Hundreds of students are finding it tough to reach their respective schools as the van operators have went on a strike on Monday in various parts of the city, thus leading to chaos outside schools as hundreds of parents rushed to drop or pick-up their wards despite paying hefty amount to the van operators. As a mark of protest, many van operators didn’t pick up students on Monday and the parents had to go to the school to drop their children or to pick them up.
According to KNO, the van operators were protesting against the drive initiated by the city traffic police against overloading in School vans and for not maintaining the Supreme Court judgment regarding traffic norms. Pertinently, the traffic police started the drive to enforce traffic rules. Few days ago, a group of van operators made representation to the senior traffic cops with demand to stop the drive.
The cops had received several complaints against van drivers ferrying more than double number of students permissible by law. In last couple of days, the traffic police led by SSP Traffic Jammu have imposed fine on them. “The drive is aimed at enforcing traffic rules, specifically related to ferrying students in vans. Those vans carrying students more than its permissible limit was seized from the schools after it dropped students so that it does not affect the students,” Traffic Cops told KNO at Bikram Chowk.
School Van Operator Association members while speaking to KNO said that traffic department was harassing them every year for one way or another. “They (traffic cops) always accuse us for not following the norms," they alleged.(KNO)