Probe finds gaps in Saraswati Vihar accident

New Delhi: A magisterial probe into the Saraswati Vihar road accident, involving a private Maruti van and a truck, in which one student was killed and 17 others injured on April 26 has revealed  there were serious violations in respect of the registration of  the van  and the driver who was driving it.

Not only had the van’s registration expired in April 2017, but the driver  was also drunk when he was ferrying the school children.

The probe revealed that  the driver was driving the van on the wrong side of the road and took a left turn at the traffic signal from the wrong side  which led to the major accident. A copy of the inquiry report accessed by this newspaper  showed  that the truck had been challaned by the traffic police  nine times from 2013 to 2017. It was also found that  the Maruti van was also challaned on February 3 by the traffic police, while as validity of its registration  had already expired last year. The report said that the van should have been impounded on the day it was challaned.

The inquiry revealed that only seven persons and a driver  are allowed in a Maruti van.  But if it is a transport department  authorized school  van, it can carry 12 persons.  But in the Saraswati Vihar case, it was an unauthorized van which was  carrying 18 children in violation of the rules.

The report said  that both the government schools, whose students were traveling in the van,  do not operate any transport facility. As of now, it is the responsibility  of the parents to arrange  transport of their wards and school authorities have no direct role  for transportation of their students. It said  that for every 1 to 2 km, there is a government school available in Delhi and  preferential admission for children  within one km of school may be considered so that the engagement of private vehicle for transportation of students  gets reduced.