Pakistan

Traffic police Rawalpindi requests district admin to ban CNG in school vans

A number of school vans fitted with CNG cylinders underneath seats have recently been found in the city

APP February 18, 2019

A number of school vans fitted with CNG cylinders underneath seats have recently been found in the city. PHOTO: ONLINE

RAWALPINDI: The City Traffic Police (CTP) Rawalpindi has requested the district administration to impose a ban on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) cylinder-fitted school vans. The administration has also been urged to direct the District and Regional Transport Authority to issue special route permits to all school vans and register the vehicles being used for Pick and Drop facility for the school children.

In order to ensure safety of the children, the authorities concerned should also issue certificates to the school vans verifying their safety after proper checking of the vehicles, the CTO said.

According to Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Rawalpindi, Muhammad Bin Ashraf, the CTP was making all out efforts to protect lives of the road users. He informed that the CTP had started taking action against substandard CNG cylinder-fitted school vans.

The traffic police had found a number of school vans fitted with CNG cylinders underneath seats which was not only dangerous but also illegal defined under section 199/122 of Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1965, he added.

"It is therefore decided that an active campaign should be initiated against the violators. For this purpose, a special team was deputed to take strict legal action under the supervision of senior officers," he informed.

The parents had also been pressing the authorities to impose a ban on the use of CNG in school vans. CTP had launched a crackdown last year against Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) and school and college vehicles plying on the roads having substandard CNG cylinders and lodged 102 FIRs under section 285 and 286 of PPC against the drivers who were sent behind bars.

The CTP also issued challan slips to the rules violators under a massive crackdown on PSVs, having low quality and substandard CNG cylinders installed in an unsafe and dangerous manner.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2019.