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Bus body sticks to objections

Passes on safety norm conformity cost to parents; experts see method in madness

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With the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) taking a unilateral decision to impose additional financial burden on parents for making changes on their buses to conform to the new safety norm while sticking to their demand for seven amendments to the same, the association’s flip-flop has once again come to the light.

However, transport experts see a method in the madness. They say the move is meant to push the government, which is currently busy with the budget session, to act on the changes prescribed by the technical committee.

Speaking with DNA, Anil Garg of the SBOA, said, “We are forced to do this as the burden of costs incurred due to the changes being made on the buses cannot be entirely born by the operators. We were striking previously because we did not want to pass on the burden to the parents.”

When asked why is it that the association was charging a higher fee even before it had officially accepted the school bus policy as declared by the government, Garg said, “Our stand has been clear from the beginning: we are not against the safety of schoolchildren or the policy, accept the seven changes to the policy and we will implement it. The transport department’s joint technical committee should sit down again to review the changes and then finalise them as mandated by the honourable Bombay High Court.”

Garg said some of the buses have to undergo fitness tests at the Regional Transport Offices and implementing all the existing school bus norms had been mandatory, which was pinching the operators and thus the hike.

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