Chaotic first day

The re-opening of schools on Monday saw a surge of cars and autos on the roads throwing traffic out of gear at many places in the city. Around 1.30 p.m, traffic came to a standstill from Khairatabad Junction to Shadan College as autos and cars parked near the Nasr School for girls blocked traffic flow.Similar was the situation on the stretch of road from the SR Nagar police station to Umesh Chandra statue with vehicles and students pouring on to the road after school hours. Traffic came to a grinding halt for over two hours.Few school managements followed the advice given to them by the traffic police on ensuring safety of schoolkids and avoiding traffic snarls at a recent meeting with them, Expresso found when it visited various locations in the city.In some streets where promiment corporate colleges are located, only two to three traffic constables were posted to regulate traffic.P Sivannarayana, a traffic cop posted near the Nasr School, told Expresso that things were going out of control as a large number of autos and cars come at the same time to pick up kids. “Further, they park on the roads leading to severe traffic jams,’’ he said.Meanwhile, after a two-month break, children in shining uniforms with heavy bags on their backs were back on the road as a number of schools reopened for the new academic year. Many parents chose to drop and pick up the children themselves on the first day.Quite contrary was the siuation at the government schools with only a few students turning up. Teachers also were not in full attendance as many of them were drafted for the census work. Children returned home early because many schools could not conduct all the classes.On the other hand, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) cracked the whip on school buses that did not comply with safety standards. The officials seized seven buses of different schools for failing to produce proper documents.B Venkateswarlu, joint commissioner, said they had seized seven buses as they did not have fitness certificates.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com