Bus operators’ flash strike catches parents off-guard

Chaos was witnessed outside the schools in Panchkula since the morning. Some parents had to take a day off work to drop their children to schools. Traffic jams were witnessed in most of the lanes leading up to schools.

While all Panchkula schools informed the parents in the morning,most Chandigarh school students kept waiting for buses,unaware that operators had decided not to enter Panchkula.

The Panchkula Administration assured that the transporters would not be harassed. “But we also told them that children’s security can’t be compromised. We were only following the court guidelines. We assured them that there will be no further harassment,” said Deputy Commissioner Of Police (Panchkula),Maneesh Chaudhary.

Panchkula Deputy Commissioner (DC),Ashima Brar said,“We had warned transporters for this arm twisting tactics. It was wrong on their part to go on a strike like this. We have warned them against such action in the future.”

Meanwhile,President of Tricity School Bus Welfare Association Manjit Singh said,“We are ready to cooperate. But stopping the buses after every kilometre is not the right way to ensure compliance to norms.”

“This is more of a money making exercise taken up by the police and we are being unnecessarily harassed. Now that the DCP has given us a month’s time to comply with the guidelines,we have called off the strike,” Singh added.

While Over 100 Panchkula bus operators observed the strike,another 100 Chandigarh-based operators refused to enter Panchkula.

When contacted,Chandigarh DC Brijendra Singh said,“Neither any of the parents or the State Transport Authorities has apprised the matter to me as of now. So,I cannot comment over it. In case,we receive any such complaints against the bus operators,we will certainly look into the issue.”

Meanwhile,having failed to inform the parents of children who reside in Panchkula,but go to school in Chandigarh,the schools and the operators were busy shifting the blame on each other.

Kavita Das,principal of St John’s School Sector 26,said,“We were informed about the strike on Wednesday evening. At that time we could not reach the parents. Besides,the bus operators are equally accountable for keeping the parents informed.”

Manjit Singh,on the other hand,said,“We had informed all the schools well in time. Now it is their responsibility to contact the parents and ensure their convenience.”