The school bus driver, Sukhwinder Singh, who was behind the wheel when the bus rammed into a stationary truck leaving two school students critically injured, was driving the school bus without a driving licence for the past three months and he was not a trained school bus driver, police said. Sources said Sukhwinder Singh’s driving licence was seized by traffic police in Punjab when he was driving a taxi five months ago and he did not make any effort to get it back.
Inspector Jaswinder Kaur, SHO of Sector 31 police station, said, “Sukhwinder had claimed that his driving licence was with his contractor but later he revealed that he was challaned for not wearing uniform while driving a taxi five months ago. We have summoned the contractor of school buses who employed Sukhwinder Singh and deployed him with Mount Carmel School, Sector 47.”
Pardeep Kumar, a member of Parent Association of Mount Carmel School, Sector 47, said, “We also came to know that the school bus involved in the accident was registered from District Transport Officer (DTO) office, Ropar, and it’s registration certificate (RC) has been expired in November, 2016.”
On July 3, two students of Mount Carmel, Sector 47, identified as Arjun (5) and Satvik (6) were injured and 28 others had a narrow escape when their school bus hit a stationary truck at Hallomajra light point. Driver Sukhwinder Singh was arrested after a few hours.
The victims Arjun is a student of pre-nursery and Satvik is studying in nursery class. Satvik suffered serious injuries under his eyes and doctors advised a surgery for him.
In his complaint to Chandigarh police, Baldev Singh, driver of the truck, in which the school bus was rammed, said, “Sukhwinder was driving the school bus at a high speed and it was the reason that he was failed to control on the bus despite observing that a truck was standing on the roadside.” A case was registered at Sector 31 police station.
News Source HERE