A relative consoles Neeraj’s mother (left). Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Nov. 23: A school bus ran over a 12 year-old-boy near Haj Bhavan on Hardinge Road this morning, intensifying the scare of citizens about the yellow vehicles plying on the city roads and the demand to rein in on their drivers.

The bus transporting students crushed Neeraj Kumar, a Class VI student of Sardar Patel Government Primary School, to death around 7am and fled the scene taking advantage of sparse traffic in the morning hours. A few present at the spot managed to take down the registration number of the bus partially. But the killer bus and its rowdy driver were traceless till late in the evening.

The school buses — all supposed to be painted in yellow — have virtually turned into commuters’ nightmare. This is the fifth accident involving a school bus in a week.

Sources said Neeraj was crossing the Hardinge Road on his way back home in the Gaddi Masjid slum area after buying tea when the speeding bus hit him. The family members of the deceased have lodged an FIR at Sachivalaya police station in this connection.

“The bus was going towards the Chitkohra bridge from the Shaheed Smarak area near the Assembly. As the road was empty, it was speeding. After running over the boy, it kept on plying. The bus driver did not apply brakes even for once. A few of us standing on the roadside during the accident managed to take down the registration number of the bus partially — 0646. It was an yellow bus and the children inside were sporting brown and red sweaters,” Guddu Kumar, a resident of the area, told The Telegraph.

An officer of the Sachivalaya police station said: “The school bus has not been identified yet. The number that the residents gave us would be sent to the district transport officer for identifying the vehicle.”

Soon after the accident, the residents of the Gaddi Masjid locality blocked the Hardinge Road for at least two hours, demanding immediate arrest of the bus driver and speed breakers on the road.

Sikandar Kumar, another resident of the same area, told The Telegraph: “The police must act fast and identify the school and the bus driver, who did not care to stop even once after running over Neeraj.”

He added: “As this road is wide, buses ply at high speed. We see school buses zipping past everyday. The administration must immediately introduce speed breakers on this road.”

Sikandar also demanded strict action against the rogue school bus drivers. “The police should act tough instead of making tall promises on ensuring road safety and passing the buck on the school authorities,” he added.

Sikandar appeared to be spot on when Patna senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar said: “The schools have been asked to paint the name of the institution on the rear of the bus too. The vehicle involved in the mishap perhaps did not have the name of the institution written on its rear. Anyway, we will work things out and a decision will be taken soon.”

The residents of the Gaddi Masjid area took strong exception to Kumar’s view.

“What do the police want to say? They expect people to take down the name of the school bus when an accident occurs? The question is why these accidents occur? Every second day school buses hit pedestrians. The police, despite laying down so many directives, do not confiscate the buses involved in accidents or arrest their drivers. The drivers surrender in the court and take bail. Is this how the police should work?” Vijay Kumar of the Gaddi Masjid area said.