Siliguri, 02nd November: DCP (Traffic) of Siliguri Metropolitan Police, Quazi Samsuddin Ahamed, held an important meeting on Tuesday with the management of various private schools in the city to discuss the movement and safety of school buses.
During the meeting, the DCP held detailed discussions with the schools regarding the number of buses, their operational routes, and schedules. He emphasized that the safety of schoolchildren is the highest priority and that any negligence in bus operations will not be tolerated.
DCP Quazi Samsuddin Ahamed highlighted that Siliguri has over 50 major schools, operating a total of 714 buses, which make approximately four trips each daily, amounting to around 2,800 trips. He described this as a major challenge for the city’s traffic management.
He appealed to school managements to reduce the unnecessary movement of large buses within the city and increase the use of smaller vehicles to help ease traffic congestion.
In addition, the DCP issued several safety-related directives, including checking the licenses and backgrounds of bus drivers. Police and school authorities will also jointly determine bus stops.
Furthermore, schools were instructed to enhance safety measures on buses, including installing or strengthening CCTV cameras, GPS tracking, appointing female attendants, and maintaining well-equipped first-aid boxes.