Patna, March 7: The city traffic police have decided to put on hold their plan to confiscate school buses not complying with the regulations introduced last month at random citing examinations and students’ harassment.

Scrapping their original plan, the traffic police have decided to inform the parents a week before seizing any vehicle so that they could make alternative arrangements.

The moves have triggered posers on their seriousness in making the city roads safe for students. Rajeev Ranjan, whose son studies in leading city school, said: “Citing students’ problems, the police are going soft on errant bus operators. They don’t seem to be serious about safety of students.

The traffic regulations, announced soon after the death of DAV student Shweta Suman on February 7, were supposed to bring erring bus drivers under the scanner and ensure safe movement for schoolchildren.

Superintendent of police (traffic) Ajit Kumar Sinha told The Telegraph the plan to go strict on erring school buses has been put on hold owing to the ongoing examination in different schools.

“The implementation part has not been started yet. We wanted to start immediately after the regulations were introduced but then the CBSE and ICSE examinations are going on in different schools. At this time if we stop the buses from plying, it will create a serious problem for the students. Hence, we have decided to hold the plan until the examinations are over. The drive will start in the middle of the next month,” the officer said.

Claiming that sudden confiscations could lead to transportation problems, Sinha said: “The students cannot be stopped from going to schools. The rules are in place but the students should not suffer for something they are not responsible for. We will formally inform the parents before confiscating any school bus. This will ensure the students are not left in the lurch. The parents will get enough time to make alternative arrangements,” the officer said.

In order to comply with the plan, the cops will first identify the bus they want to confiscate.

“We are not going to just get out and hold up five to six buses at once. It will be done in a proper way. We will identify one bus of a school not complying with the norms. Then an officer will go to the school and check the number of students travelling in that particular bus. Once this is done, the contact details of these students will be taken from the school and the parents will be duly informed. It will be done a week in advance so that the parents can make alternative arrangements to send their wards to school after the bus is confiscated. This will ensure that the students and their parents don’t face problems. More discussions regarding the same are being conducted at the moment,” the traffic SP said.

Earlier this month, the Patna traffic police came out with a series of regulations, which the school buses needed to follow to ply on city roads. The idea was to minimise risks involving students while they are on the bus. Some important regulations included buses being painted in yellow and their speed not exceeding 20km per hour.