Schools, pay heed now.

If you continue to compromise safety of students by hiring private vehicles instead of those with commercial registration, you will face the music.

Ranchi district transport department on Thursday issued a public notice, asking all educational institutions to immediately stop using private vehicles for pick-up and drop, failing which a crackdown would be launched sometime next week.

District transport officer (DTO) Nagendra Paswan preferred not to name schools in the capital that are blatantly violating the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, but underscored that the notice was a final warning.

Sources at the DTO's office said the list of errant institutions included Surendra Mohini Public School on HB Road, playschools like Nanhe Kadam and Kidzee, and St Paul's Academy in Samlong.

"Before the crackdown, we want to ensure that every school knows why it is being prosecuted, as it is a common practice to feign ignorance about rules when caught. Also, I have directed my office to quickly process applications for commercial registration, if any. But, when we launch the drive after Chhath, we shall listen to no excuses," said Paswan.

In Ranchi, where playschools and kindergartens are mushrooming every day, using private vehicles as commercial ones is a fairly familiar custom. Speeding vans crammed with children is also a common sight. Although most of these vans flaunt the name of the school that has hired them, they don't bear the yellow registration plate of commercial vehicles, which allows them to dodge taxes and often prosecution.

There have been several accidents in Ranchi and elsewhere in the past that involved private vehicles on school duty.

In July this year, two students of DAV were injured when their overcrowded school van flipped near Hiranpur in Pakur. In April, yet another private vehicle crammed with schoolchildren met with an accident, injuring 10, in Gamharia, Seraikela-Kharsawan.

In July last year, a kindergarten student of Gulmohur School in Telco, Jamshedpur, fell off a van whose gate opened when the driver hit a speed-breaker.

The DTO stressed that such vehicles not only caused revenue losses to the state exchequer, but also posed a serious threat to the life and limb of schoolchildren.

"If a van is ferrying students, there are certain safety parameters it must maintain like having adequate seating arrangements, and keeping first-aid kits and fire extinguishers handy. Now, when a private car or van is hired by a school for commercial use, these rules are not binding on them and student safety automatically takes a back seat," Paswan explained.

On what punitive actions would be taken following the crackdown, the DTO said they would recover taxes (due since the date of private registration) from each vehicle caught, cancel concessions given to schools for public transport and seize errant fleets.

Do you think a crackdown can discipline schools? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com