The majority of private van operators resumed operations on Wednesday after a one-day strike but a few operators stuck to their stand causing hardship to parents and students.
Parents in the suburbs, including Porur and Gerugambakkam, also faced tense moments when their children did not reach home in time after school the evening on time because of the surprise checks conducted by transport officials, though the vans bringing them home had started as scheduled from the schools.
“The van in which my grandson travels to school did not come to pick him up for the second successive day.
The operator did not even inform us about this until the very last minute, putting us to unnecessary trouble,” complained Kamala of Adambakkam.
The child, who studies in a school in Raja Annamalaipuram, had to be taken to school by his father, she said.
This is not an isolated case. Some other parents have also complained about school vans not turning up to pick up students.
However, office bearers of school van operators’ association said that all the vans were operated on Wednesday.
“Almost all 9,000 vans attached to our association ferried children as usual on Wednesday, barring a few whose drivers might have gone on leave as soon as the strike was announced,” said Benjamin, secretary, TN Schools Private Van Operators Association, adding that things would return to normalcy from Thursday.
A few parents had criticised transport officials for stopping school vehicles midway in the name of checks.
“When my son’s arrival was delayed by more than an hour we were concerned about his safety and got worried after the driver failed to pick our repeated calls.
Only later did we learn that delay was because of a surprise check by officials,” said Anbalagan from Gerugambakkam, whose son is studying in a school on Butt Road.
Anbalagan appealed to authorities not to conduct checks while students were travelling in the vans.