KATHMANDU, Dec 26: A school van was hoarding children around the age of seven from Supreme Court's roadside to the Central Zoo via Kan Devtathan of Sanepa. A small video shows that children, the majority of who were standing or squeezed inside the van, were clinging to the window pane.
Appalling was the fact that the route, which has a heavy concentration of traffic police personnel, missed the packed school van, even when vehicles have to wait for the traffic to enter Kan Devta Than, which falls on the right.
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According to the Manasi Kids Palace's principal, Kalpana Bista, the vehicle, Ba 18 Cha 4119 was heading to zoo carrying children from UKG and Grade 1. "We slightly squeezed few more children this time because we thought they could accommodate," she said. Majority of the children were of around seven years old.
Rajendra Bajgain, who noticed the vehicle said that there probably were between 20-30 children stuffed inside the van. "It was sad to see so many children packed inside a small vehicle," he said.
"A minivan can carry between five to six passengers. However, they were carrying not less than 25 children, some of whom were clinging to at a slider door. This is very dangerous," Bajgain said.
She cited that one of the reasons of "adjusting children" was because of the traffic congestion. "Earlier, when we took children from grade Nursery to the zoo, we took them in two vehicles. However, one of the vans was stuck in traffic and children had to wait for lunch," she said.
"Traffic personnel are responsible to stay vigil when on duty. I will ask them to be extra cautious from now onwards and correct such misses in the future," Jaya Ram Sapkota, spokesperson of Metropolitan Traffic Police said.
