Close to a year after the Transport Department introduced a set of rules for vehicles ferrying school children, transport unions in the city are still demanding additional time for drivers to fall in line.
The notification for school cabs, which was issued in January this year and was presented in its draft form around a year ago, seeks to streamline the way schoolchildren are transported to their schools every day.
With rules determining the number of children per vehicle, colour and average age of the vehicle, the move had attracted widespread criticism from cab operators at the time who foresaw huge losses.
Now, a recent crackdown by the police and Transport Department officials has brought the issue to the forefront again with various Unions on Tuesday appealing to the government to give more time for cab drivers to ‘get prepared’ to implement the scheme.
Police have booked over 1,150 cases since June 1 on drivers violating the guidelines and are considering revoking the licences of repeat offenders.
According to a statement by the Karnataka United School and Light Motor Vehicle Drivers’ Union, an immediate stop to the raids is being sought in order to provide more time for compliance. “We hope that the government will understand the critical position of school cab drivers and consider their plight sympathetically,” the statement read.
The Union has also appealed to drivers to pursue the matter through peaceful negotiations.