As nearly 3,500 school buses went off the roads on Tuesday, parents were a harried lot.
As nearly 3,500 school buses went off the roads on Tuesday, parents were a harried lot. Frustrated with school bus operators calling a state-wide one-day strike, a parents and teachers association from the city has threatened to move the Bombay high court if the operators decide to go on an indefinite strike.
The school bus operators have said that they will go on an indefinite strike if the transport authorities do not respond to their demands of withdrawing the “impractical” norms on school bus safety.
Jayant Jain, president of the NGO Forum for Fairness in Education, said, “Parents are victims of the strike. The school bus operators are unwilling to follow safety norms even after charging exorbitant fees. Compared to them, BEST buses charge only Rs900 per annum. If parents are paying so much money, they expect buses to adhere to all the safety norms. If they go on an indefinite strike, we will get a stay order from the court to put an end to this. They should resolve their issues by having a discussion with the government or through the court.”
Not surprisingly, the ones who suffered the most as school buses refused to ply on Tuesday were parents who resorted to carpooling, public transport and some even took a half day off from work to ferry their children from school to home. Raju Tirmalle from Dadar said, “We were hesitant to send our children to school. Taxis were hard to get as most of the parents were using them too. Buses were crowded with schoolchildren. When we have paid the school bus fees for a year, why should we suffer like this?”
The School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) that had initiated the strike has given the transport authorities a notice of seven days to comply with their demands. “If even after seven days, the transport authorities do not respond, we will go on an indefinite strike. Our operators are being harassed by the RTO over these norms which are muddled in confusion. Many of them are not even practical to implement,” said Anil Garg, president, SBOA.
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