Click to play videoKolkata: A section of pool car operators in Kolkata are on strike to protest the crackdown on them by the Bengal transport department. The government has impounded more than 50 pool cars in Kolkata in the last couple of days.
The drive follows an accident last week, which killed a nine-year school child.
"The incident, no doubt, is unfortunate. But you cannot hold all poor cars responsible for the mistake committed by one driver,” says a pool car operator, Tutul Pal.
Nearly 1,500 pool cars operate in the city ferrying nearly 25,000 children back and forth from school every day. Most of these cars do not have the necessary permit for contract carriage and ply on roads with private vehicles registration. Though illegal and dangerous, it is still the preferred mode of transport for most guardians who feel there aren't enough school busses and safer alternatives hardly exist.
"One complaint we have against these pool cars is that they cram too many children. They don't even provide an escort,” says a guardian, Debjani Roy.
A large section of affected parents see the government's initiative as a ploy to extract money from pool car operators without addressing the problem. And while officials of the public vehicles department refused to talk, it is evident that the government is far from laying down firm guidelines for pool car operators.
(With inputs from Sukarno Sen in Kolkata)
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