15 city schools flout Supreme court rules

Guwahati: Altogether 15 private schools of the city have allegedly been violating the Supreme Court guidelines for safety of school buses.

The schools include Holy Child School (Chandmari), SBOA School (Gorchuk), Maharshi Vidya Mandir (Silpukhuri), NPS International School (Betkuchi), Little Flower School (Hatigaon), Gurukul Grammar School (Geetanagar), Delhi Public school (Khanapara and Ahom Gaon), Don Bosco School (Panbazar), Axel Public School (Lokhra), Heritage Public School (Gotanagar), Royal Global School (Betkuchi), SAI RNS Academy (Kahilipara), Maria's Public School (Birkuchi) and Royal Public School (Dhirenpara).

The violation came to light after an NGO, Consumer Rights Organisation, filed a complaint with Kamrup (metro) district administration, district transport officer (DTO) Syed Rafiqul Mannan said.

"The schools do not own adequate number of buses. Therefore, in many cases they use hired vehicles in violation of the Supreme Court norms. In a meeting of district road safety committee on Tuesday, we discussed the matter in the presence of representatives from those schools and will carry out inspections soon," Mannan said.

Sabah Al-Ahmed, an official of Don Bosco School, Panbazar, said, "We can assess the matter in August as summer vacation is under way now. On the other hand, till now we have not got any notice on the matter."

Mannan said the norms of Supreme Court on safety of school buses stipulate installation of nets on windows, appointment of a handyman, maintenance of proper speed etc. The guidelines were issued by the apex court on December 16, 1997.

In Tuesday's meeting, the DTO also said his office has seized 1,679 vehicles this year for violating traffic rules in Guwahati.