BOOBALAM [PLESANT RAGA IN THE MORNING] TURNED MUGARI [SAD RAGA] IN THE EVENING BUT THINK WHO IS RESPONSIBLE????

The tender song in the morning lost its Shruti  to bereavement in the evening.  The little girl Shruti [6] of Zion Secondary school lost her life by tumbling into a gapping hole on the floor of a  bus - which  cared and carried  her to and fro school and residence.  The unfortunate accident raised the public commotion and eyebrows at the callous nature of handling by  the school, the governmment agency and the service provider all alike.

Now who is responsible for this

The RTO, who inspected the bus and issued fitness certificate [FC] a fortnight ago.  Look at the audacity of the Inspector saying that they check only the engines, the clutches and the brakes of the vehicle and throw the rest to the winds- is the floor not part of  the bus safety?.  This agency, rampant with corruption, will never realise its responsibility whatever and however the accidents happen

The School - what  have they got to  say!  Schools think that their responsbility ceases once  they sign a  contract  with the service provider   What sort of statement is this - unacceptable though - when they fleece the parents with all sorts of fees  for their wards at the school, transportation fee inclusive.  Is it not incumbent on the part of the school to discharge the least responsibility of  inspecting the buses which carry the buds  in it - the future of India !!

The Government machinery - specially the traffic police.  Police responsibility does not end in clearance of day-to-day traffic snarls and providing 'bondobust'  to the VIPs.  Do they check these vehicles for their color [supposed to be painted yellow], the indication on the buses that these transport children, capacity vs occupancy, the condition of the bus in general, rash driving on the public roads, as also installation of the speed mangers/monitors. We see even the tourist taxis have  a small note these days saying that if  the vehicle speeds up call such  and such number to report why  are these buses lack this?    We see these policemen check and harrass the two wheelers at every  nook and corner these days while leaving the buses and jam-packed autos  carrying these young buds scotfree.

The Parents - do the parents check what  sort  of vehicles their children avail to reach their schools. Is it not their responsibility too to see their wards travel comfortably and question the school management , who collect a  fat transportation fee, to ensure safety and security of their children.  Individual parents,  I understand,  have no time to adopt checks and balances  on daily basis but atleast they could form a consortium to check at random the condition of the vehicles that carry their beloved ones,  on a turn basis.  The worst part is still not over, as we witness the autos jam-packed with children who suffer suffocation daily and it is a nightmare for them to travel one on the other on daily basis.

I am not here to write a fault-finding article but the loss when occurs is irrepairable  to the parents. 
The pathetic case  of  Shruti -   who was swallowed by the rear wheels of the bus which transported her over the years , thro a gapping hole on its floor- should be an eye opener for all of us.  I was shaken up  totally, as you all would also be, by this gory accident at Saliyur.  The magnanimity of  the father of the deceased, Sethumadhavan, needs an appreciable mention when he, amidst his bereavement, requested  the general public that these checks be done to avert such accidents in the future and save children and the parents from berevement. 

Our kudos should also be recorded for  the High Court  took up this case voluntarily and to have issued notices to concerned to show cause why all these have happened and  also the RTO and Govenment to pull up their socks in framing stringent rules to ensure smoother sail in future, while remanding the negiligent persons to judicial/police custody.

All said and done the unfortunate thing is that we  the generl public react  instantly to such accidents and in course of time our memory fades and we reconcile to rampant inefficiencies and wake only when another such accident , God forbid, happens. Any amount of monetary help can never compensate the loss of  life of their beloved child.

The point we need to deliberate upon is that this accident unfortunately has been a collective failure and this should be stopped forthwith. My opinion -open to debatable ideas from you -  therefore is for primarily forming  some sort  of a consortium by the parents of commuter-children and institute some strict random checks of vehic;les that carry their beloved children and make a big noise, if they find any abnormality or a lacuna  in the vehicle,  and take up issue with the school management- who acts as a  medium between Parents and the service provider / contractor -   to stop plying such buses immediately on  receiving such reports and call upon the contractor to  rectify and repair the vehicle before the young buds take to  commute in it.

IS IT RINGING BELL PLEASE- ANY TAKERS PLEASE!!!