Rajkot game zone tragedy: School vacation ends, drivers of vans and autos seek rebate amid crackdown

Similar scenes were witnessed in other parts of the state too. Over 800 school van and auto drivers in Valsad went on strike. The driver association announced that they would continue the strike if the rules like the RTO permit for carrying students, vehicle fitness certificate, limit on number of students to carry on the vehicles were not relaxed. The drivers have also demanded more time should be given to them.  On the first day of the school reopening, parents were seen carrying students to the schools.

In Surat, the RTO gave a penalty memo to 30 school vans and autos carrying students on different routes after the drivers failed to submit necessary documents as per rules to the RTO teams. Along with the penalty memo, RTO officials also instructed the school van and auto drivers to get proper documents in the next few days.

In Ahmedabad, Right to Education Sewa Samiti submitted a written request to the Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel urging the government to start ‘school transportation scholarship’ for students admitted under RTE Act’s 25 per cent reservation in private schools. Her request came following a hike in school van charges.

With a 20 per cent hike in transportation charges, economically weaker students admitted under RTE Act will fail to continue their education. So we appeal to the state government to be the first to launch school transportation scholarships for these students,” Moin Khokhar from the Right to Education Sewa Samiti, told this paper.

In Rajkot, the school van drivers were told at a meeting on Wednesday they would have to mandatorily get their vans registered with the RTO as taxis and follow other norms, Bahdursinh Gohil, president, RSVA, said.  “The In-charge Regional Transport Officer of Rajkot has made it clear that vans having benches in place of sofas for passengers will not be registered as taxis. On top of all this, getting a van registered as a taxi costs around Rs 35,000. A speed governor costs additional Rs 12,000. But a van with sofas can’t accommodate more than 10 students though the vehicle may have permission to ferry 14 students. Due to all these reasons, our members observed a holiday on Thursday,” Gohil said, adding, “We are requesting parents of students to help us in this situation.”

The RSVA president said that there are around 4,000 school vans in Rajkot and that many of them are registered as private vehicles instead of taxis or commercial vehicles. Of these, around 600 are formally registered members of the association. “A huge number of school vans are registered with RTO as private vehicles and if they are caught, the fine could be as high as Rs 25,000. So school van drivers considered it best to observe a day off instead of running the risk of getting caught while ferrying students,” Gohil said, adding, “RTOs in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat are registered vans as taxis with benches as seating facilities. But here, the RTO says that such registration applications won’t be granted even though we are ready to comply with other requirements like keeping fire extinguisher, and grills.”

Gohil further insisted that the speed restriction of 20 km per hour for school vans is not reasonable. “We will have to drive our vans in the first or second gear to drive that slow. That can not only lead to engine overheating and breakdown but also longer travelling times for students,” he added.

The Rajkot District Collector said that he made it clear to the van drivers that rules will have to be followed. “They came to our office with a memorandum listing their grievances. Subsequently, we called a meeting. We told them that rules will have to be followed irrespective of scenarios in other districts. In demanding that, we are demanding nothing out of the rules,” Joshi told The Indian Express, adding, “We gave them two days’ time to get their vans registered as commercial vehicles (as taxis) and guided them about the registration process. But we are told not many have applied for getting their vehicles registered as commercial vehicles,” Rohit Prajapati,In-charge Regional Transport Officer, Rajkot, said that 11 school vans, including three without permits to ferry students, were issued challans cumulatively worth Rs 66,000 during a random check in the city on Thursday.

In neighbouring Morbi, owners of 27 vehicles were fined Rs 2.13 lakh for allegedly flouting various laws.

The crackdown comes in the aftermath of the TRP Game Zone in Rajkot on May 25. Local bodies sealed hundreds of schools for want of fire safety clearance or building use permissions or both across the state.

However, Prajapati said that the rule requiring school vans to be registered as taxis has been there since 2006. “As per rules, one has to first get a van registered as a taxi and then obtain a permit of contract carriage for students from concerned RTO in order for it to be considered as a public service vehicle. This rule has been there since 2006 and we are merely implementing it,” Prajapati told The Indian Express.

Existing rules in Gujarat permit school vans to ferry twice the number of students than the capacity of the vehicles to ferry adults. So, a van with a permit to ferry five-passengers-plus-driver can ferry 10 students and a van with permit to carry seven-passengers-plus-driver can ferry 14 students, provided all students are below the age of 12 years. Any student who is 12 or older has to be treated as an adult in this context.

Prajapati said that rules don’t provide for registration of vans with benches in place of sofas as taxis.

“Replacing sofas with benches can be construed as changes in design of vehicles and such vehicles may not be considered fit for registration,” the in-charge RTO of Rajkot said, adding, “We are not aware whether vans with benches have been granted registrations in other cities.”

(With inputs from ENS Surat, Ahmedabad)