Traffic police target school vans with substandard CNG cylinders

Earlier they announced that school vans had to remove CNG, LPG cylinders

KARACHI: On the first day of the crackdown against school vans, the Karachi traffic police took a U-turn by not taking action against the school vans running on compressed natural gas (CNG), but only against the vans carrying substandard cylinders.

Earlier, the traffic DIG, Amir Ahmed Shaikh, announced that school van owners will have to remove CNG and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) kits from their vehicles before August 21, which was extended to September 4 due to the school van owners' protests.

On Friday, September 4, the traffic police took action against substandard CNG cylinders only.

According to Shaikh, 10 teams have been formed under deputy superintendents across the city to ensure the security of school children who travel in dangerous CNG-run vehicles every day in the metropolis. Shaikh said that four main points were drafted by the traffic police, which the school van owners have to abide by.  The colour of all school buses should be yellow, there must be no overloading of students, the bus should be devoid of CNG or LPG cylinders and there must be an attendant in the van to take care of the younger students.

When asked why the department failed to take action against the CNG cylinders installed in school buses, he said that in the first phase of the drive they are targeting vehicles with CNG cylinders, which were not certified and approved by the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan.

"Slowly and gradually we will make them convert their vehicles to petrol or diesel," he said, adding that the traffic police officers have full support of the Private Schools Management Associations (PSMA), the All Pakistan CNG Owners Associations and the Sindh transport department to make the drive successful.

Meanwhile PSMA chairperson Sharafus Zaman said that management of schools has nothing to do with the vans in which their students commute. He was of the opinion that when students were inside the boundary of their schools, they became the schools' responsibility. However, he said that they were ready to extend their help in regularising school vans. "Morally it is our responsibility, not legally," he said.

Shaikh said that 28 school vans have been impounded for not having certified CNG cylinders and 48 have been fined for not having the label of 'school bus' on them while carrying students.

Chairperson of the School Bus Owners Association, Karim Khan, told The Express Tribune that as long as the traffic police were taking action against substandard CNG cylinders they were with them. However, if the traffic police decided to take action again all CNG cylinders in school vans, he claimed they would never support it.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2015.