As the school children are forced to wait for long in traffic due to the routine political, social and religious dharnas (sit-ins) in the state, the Punjab State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (PSCPCR) has instructed all district authorities to ensure smooth flow of school buses. Issuing orders to Police Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police in all districts on Monday, the PSCPCR asked them to ensure separate corridor for smooth passage of school buses during political, social and religious sit-ins.

The PSCPCR has cited the orders issued by Punjab and Haryana High Court, which designated the child rights panel as nodal agency for implementing the Punjab State School Vehicle policy meant for providing safety of children in school vehicles or buses framed in view of orders passed by the court. In the order, the Commission has made it clear as the administration receives advance information about such scheduled protests in their respected areas.

The Commission has asked the district administrations to take the responsibility of creating a corridor or makeshift barricade at sideways for passage of school buses including ambulances during such situations.”Commission has noticed that in the event of political, social and religious sit-ins or demonstration, the traffic is halted which also consists of inconvenience to them and their condition is aggravated in the extremes of weather,” PSCPCR, chairman, SukeshKalia told The Statesman.

He further said that certainly issued were being noticed by the Commission wherein school children have been hassled during political and social sit-ins. “One such latest incident came to fore that due to a political sit-ins, children remain without food and water for a considerable time causing further anxiety among their parents as they reach home late,” he said.

Even, parents are worst affected by the problem as they keep waiting for hours for their children. “Worst is the situation when children reach home after three hours. The situation is worsening day by day as the traffic chaos during political gatherings have become a routine affair.