Nearly 700 private school bus operators in the city have threatened to go on strike on Tuesday against certain norms specified by the state government for deployment of school buses. According to these bus operators these norms are
impractical and need to be withdrawn.
A government resolution issued recently lists the norms applicable to all school bus transport. Baba Shinde, president of Maharashtra Goods and Passenger Transport Association said, “According to that resolution, every bus must have two lady attendants in the bus, whose salaries would be paid by the school transport committee.”
Noting that schools in the city had refused to do so, Shinde said that financial burden had been moved to the operators.
“The other rule states that there should be horizontal bars fitted to bus windows with the gap of 5 inches, but different RTOs (regional transport offices) cite different specifications. On failing to follow them, bus operators have to face action,” he said.
Another rule makes buses to have a pole post inside the vehicle, but old buses do not have it, Shinde said. “It is very difficult to install such poles in old buses.”
According to Shinde, nearly 700 bus operators from Pune will participate in the strike on Tuesday, after holding a meeting on Monday to decide the future course of action.
“Our members held a meeting with the state transport commissioner and requested him to amend the resolution, but our demands went unheeded,” Shinde claimed.
