Operators of pool cars on Thursday refused to abide by the government’s safety guidelines. “We met transport minister Subhas Chakraborty today and told him that the guidelines are unacceptable to us,” said Shantanu Saha, the secretary of Car Pool Operators’ Association.

“We asked the government to relax the guidelines. Even if it doesn’t, we will keep running the vehicles,” he added.

“The association’s stand is not worth considering. We will impound the vehicles running illegally,” said transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury.

Last month, the transport minister had issued the guidelines for pool cars that carry children to school and back, and set August 15 as the deadline for applying for a contract carriage permit.

Failure to submit applications by Independence Day would result in seizure of the cars, the government had asserted. Not a single car has complied with the order, forcing the government to defer the deadline to August 20.

The pool car operators demanded that the government lift the curb on the number of students a car can carry and expressed inability to apply for a commercial permit or display the name of the school on the car. Carrying an escort in the car, Saha said, is “unnecessary”.

The minister said he would go through the association’s demands.

The guidelines followed the death of Kaustav Bhattacharya, a Class III student, in a pool car mishap on VIP Road on July 19. On August 9, a pool car carrying 13 children lost control and overturned on James Long Sarani.