More than 2,000 schoolchildren of Dhanbad had a harrowing day as hundreds of vans that usually ferry them to school stayed off the road on Wednesday, protesting against the district administration's move to ensure road tax compliance.

As many as 350 Maruti vans, registered as privately-owned vehicles, ferry more than 2,500 students of six reputed schools of Dhanbad, namely, DAV Public School, Koylanagar; De Nobili School, CMRI; Dhanbad Public School; Kamal Katesaria Montessori School and Carmel School.

But, the transport department wants to ensure school vans operate as commercial vehicles and pay road tax as per commercial rates. Accordingly, it has asked all van operators to submit documents within 15 days and register as commercial vehicles.

The annual road tax of a privately operated eight-seater van works out to around Rs 933. But for commercial vehicles, the tax is Rs 2,508. Similarly, insurance charges would also increase four-fold to around Rs 16,000.

"We will not be able to operate our vehicles if we have to pay commercial taxes. Either we increase fairs two-fold or we will have to stop operating them altogether," said Vijay Kumar, the chief of Shikshit Berojgar Dhanbad Zila School Van Association.

He said the association would submit a memorandum to deputy commissioner Kripanand Jha alleging that their vehicles were being seized unfairly, referring to Tuesday's action when two vans were seized by the transport department.

But, district transport officer Ravi Raj Sharma said they were merely following the MV Act. "If a vehicle is used for commercial purposes, it should be registered as a commercial vehicle and pay taxes accordingly," he explained.

Parents and guardians had tough time reaching their wards to school.

Sanjay Kumar, a cyber cafe operator, said he needed to go to Bokaro for urgent work, but had to reschedule plans to take his son to school. "My son, Anish Kumar is in class II of DAV Public School, Koylangar. He needed to be at school by 6.40 am. I had to shut shop around 11.30 am and bring him home," he said.

Ashish Mukherjee, a railway employee, echoed him. "It was difficult to send my younger son Ankur, a class III student of De Nobili School, CMRI, to school because of the van strike," he said, adding that the school bus, however, picked up hi elder son, Mainak, a class X student.