The state government has cancelled the affiliation of the private school in Dadahu, whose bus had met with an accident on the Dadahu-Sangdah road in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, killing seven children earlier this month.
“The affiliation of school has been cancelled from 1.4.2019 following an inquiry into the incident,” said Transport Minister, Govind Singh in a reply to Congress member from Renuka, Vinay Kumar during Question Hour in the budget session of state Assembly on Tuesday.
Vinay Kumar asked the government to table the document, wherein the affiliation of the school was cancelled. He said the parents of the students had repeatedly complained about the poor condition of the bus to the school authorities, but no action was taken in this regard.
Intervening in the reply, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the government will not spare the guilty if there has been any negligence in the passing of the school bus.
Thakur said this after the opposition members, including former CM Virbhadra Singh raised the question that the checking authorities had rejected the school bus in view of its condition, but was passed by the higher authority. Singh pointed out that the government must look into the issue as it is a serious matter that how the passing was done by the higher authorities, and whether they had done it sitting in their room.
“We will look into the aspect in detail and will take action accordingly,” the CM said. He said two school bus accidents have occurred in one year and it is a serious matter.
Intervening in the discussion on another question, the Chief Minister said the state government has started Mukhya Mantri Grihini Suvidha Yojana to give gas connections to the families, which were not being covered in Centre’s Ujjawala Yojana in the hill state.
He said the scheme is important from health as well as environment point of view. “Himachal would soon become the first state in the country to have gas connections in every household,” he said.
Civil and Supplies minister Kishen Kapoor said 34,395 gas connections have been distributed in Himachal, while 1,33,657 connections are pending. In Ujjawala Yojana, 78,635 gas connections have been distributed and 7,167 connections are pending.
Answering another question by Congress member from Kinnaur Jagat Singh Negi, the Chief Minister said the government is concerned about the condition of the Hindustan-Tibet road and will make efforts to make it motorable soon.
“The road is important from a strategic point of view and the government will ensure that its condition is good,” he said.