Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan Monday reviewed the traffic management system of schools in Kashmir valley wherein he emphasized on the enforcement of route plans, colour coding and sustained action against traffic rules violation.The Divisional Commissioner received the feedback and the work done in this regard from all districts.The meeting was informed that 15 lac students go to 11000 schools regularly across the valley. In Srinagar district alone 5 lac children go to 4000 schools every day, whereas Kashmir valley has 2500 private schools.The Divisional Commissioner banned any kind of music in the school buses immediately. The Div Com also gave strict directions with regard to eradicating overloading and plying of school buses for ferrying other passengers. He also directed that every school bus should have yellow colour. If any person found violating these directions, he/she will be booked as per law, he said.
For the safety of the children, he directed all DDCs to do a safety audit of school transport regularly and categorization of schools in collaboration with concerned CEOs in their respective districts and also recommend to purchase new buses in those schools were student enrolment is large. He directed officials to submit fortnightly report to the Divisional Commissioner’s office in this regard. He asked all DDCs to hold separate meetings with representatives of private schools to evaluate the situation and the above directions will be implemented in letter and spirit.The IG Traffic flagged a number of issues in various districts to which Div Com ordered to take action on urgent basis.On the occasion, Div Com said that government has put the efficient traffic management for school going children as the issue is one of the foremost concerns of public importance. He said that every effort is being put to resolve all issues and provide efficient transport facility to the children.The meeting was attended by DDC Srinagar Syed Abid Rashid Shah, IGP Traffic Kashmir Basant Rath, Joint Director Education, Representatives of Private School Associations and officials representing other departments. The DDCs from other districts attended the meeting via video conferencing.