As schools in Hyderabad have re-opened for a fresh academic year, the Road Transport Authority (RTA) and the city's traffic police have been cracking down on vehicles like autos, vans and buses, which ferry the students and resort to overcrowding. As part of the special drive, the police said that as many as 521 cases had been registered last week, out of which 246 dealt with overcrowded autos and vans.
The police also said that around 30 teams had been formed in coordination with the RTA and the authorities also found that many vehicles did not have proper documents.
"In the last two days, we have booked 521 cases against the autos, vans and school buses for carrying extra school children and some for not having proper documents. Apart from this, we are counselling parents and school management and have issued guidelines to follow to ensure the safety and security of the children. The teams are also carrying breath analysers to check whether the drivers are in a drunken condition," Hyderabad Additional Commissioner (Traffic) Anil Kumar told ANI.
A similar drive is conducted by the police each year, to ensure the safety of children. During the checks conducted in June last year, authorities also found 33 drivers who were operating their vehicles without a driving license.
There was also a case where a driver was nabbed ferrying children to school while drunk. A breath analyser test was conducted, and his blood alcohol content (BAC) count was a whopping 228 mg/100 ml, compared to the permissible alcohol limit of 30 mg/100 ml of blood, i.e. 30 micrograms/100 ml of blood.
The Hyderabad Traffic Police also requested all the parents of school children against sending their children in a vehicle that was carrying more than the seating capacity, as it endangered the lives of children. The police also asked the parents to check and ensure that the driver had a license and all other related documents for their vehicle.