Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: In order to ensure safety of schoolchildren, the state government has introduced a comprehensive transport policy.
The commerce and transport department has prepared the policy involving officials of transport, police, education department, parents’ associations and NGOs to ensure safety of students on priority, official sources said Friday.
The policy would act as guideline and instill in minds of parents a strong belief that their children are safe and secure while travelling to and from school, they said.
The policy envisages that all school buses will have an exterior of golden yellow and a 150mm wide band of Golden Brown all sides of the bus below the window.
The inscription ‘School Bus’ would be painted in the front and rear top of the bus in bold and visible letters if it is owned by the school. If the bus is hired, then the inscription shall clearly indicate ‘on school duty’. The buses shall display the name and address of the school and phone number on left rear side of the vehicle.
“In the rear right side of the school bus, contact number of bus in-charge, school administrator, local regional transport officer and police authority of the school level transport committee should be printed. A separate e-mail ID shall be created and displayed for registering complaints,” the policy said.
The government has also banned vehicles covered with canvass hood and roof. It said every school bus shall have semi-salon type with steel body.
However, the government has not banned vehicles such as auto-rickshaws, Omni and EECO (Maruti Suzuki), Tata magic, Bolero and similar type of vehicles being used for transporting students. The government, however, has set a condition that the number of children in such vehicles would not exceed the seating capacity.
It was alleged such vehicles being used for transportation of schoolchildren in a very unorganised manner often met with accidents.
As per guidelines, all school vehicles must have safety grills, speed governors, first-aid box and fire extinguishers.
