17 school vans with gas cylinders impounded

Rawalpindi: The District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA) impounded 17 school vans using CNG and LPG cylinders and imposed fine against 23 vans using tape recorder, while in reaction majority of drivers stopped their vehicles neither dropped nor picked students on Monday.

Punjab government has directed Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi to start crackdown against school vans fitted with CNG and LPG cylinders and also directed to impound school vans using tape recorders at the pick and drop time of students.

DRTA Secretary Khalid Yameen Satti told ‘The News’ that they were taking action on the directions of DC to impound school vans using CNG and LPG cylinders. He said that they have formed two teams to check school vans using gas cylinders in the vehicles. They have also impounded some vans using tape recorder during pick and drop of students, he said. He said that they would release all school vans after removing gas cylinders.

He also said that using gas cylinders in school vans was not only an illegal practice but dangerous as well. They wanted to protect schoolchildren to avoid any incident, he said.

The drivers of school vans should run their vehicles on petrol rather on CNG or LPG, he said. On the other hand, dozens of students could not reach their institutions due to absence of vans on Monday.