Safeguarding lives of children is more important than anything- Pramod Madhwaraj
Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network-Udupi (HB)
Udupi, Jul 6: “Safeguarding lives of children is more important than anything. In this regard, parents and institutions should play a vital role,” said district-in-charge minister Pramod Madhwaraj during a public hearing meet at Atal Bihari Vajpayee auditorium, Rajathadri on Wednesday July 6.
Officials from Regional Transport office, auto and bus drivers, owners, traffic police departments, parents, teachers, non-governmental organization members, human rights committee, education institution heads, lawyers and Children protection committee members participated in the awareness meeting.
SP Annamalai citing Supreme Court guidelines on school buses during the meeting and said, “The number of deaths of children was 990 in 2014 which came down to 394 in 2015. Every driver and conductor of school buses should have police character certificate. Only 25 schools applied for character certificate out of which 209 applications were cleared. If schools do not apply for it, it would be considered as contempt of court. Schools should also form internal mechanism committees.”
Questioning DDPI and RTO, advocate Dinesh Hegde Ulepady said, “Did they conduct any awareness programme for schools after Trasi tragedy? Did they circulate Supreme courts guidelines to institutions? The authority failed in regulating rules despite the law."
Answering to this, RTO police said, “We could not conduct the awareness programme because we do not have enough staff. From August 1, the department will take action against unofficial school vehicles.”
Fr John from Sasthan said, “The whole design of national highway is unscientific. Crossing a road is a big challenge. I urge the gathering to follow road safety measures.”
Considering the problems of small children, Y Gangadhar Suvarna stressed on introducing uniform system for all schools in the state regarding school timings.
Former MLA Raghupati Bhat spoke on behalf of Auto-unions’ members and said, “School management and taxi cabs should put name board on vehicles. All of a sudden, one cannot stop school drivers’ earning. Let it continue just for time being. The concerned department should think in a practical way.”
Kripa from Kundapur said, “It is always better to take precautionary measures.”
Shashidhar Hegde said, “The district does not have helpline for children.”
Minister Pramod ordered to set up helpline centre for children in the district without any delay.
Raghavendra Navada said, “Everyone is talking about private schools only. Who will take the responsibility of government school children?”
Other demands during the meeting were to fix rambler on the highway, tax free school buses, zebra cross marks on required places, applying GPS and speed control, to mark pick up points and so on.
After hearing all the suggestions, minister Pramod Madhwaraj said, “A seven-member committee will be formed soon in the district to regulate school buses. The committee will include members from school management, auto-taxi, NGO and others.”
He instructed to take action against NHAI officials who were absent in the meeting.
He instructed police department to organize workshops to create awareness about road safety norms from July 15 to August 15. He also appealed youth in implementing road safety measures.
RTO Surendrappa, DDPI Diwakar Shetty and ZP CEO Priyanka Mary Francis were present.