The traffic snarls faced in Thane city for the third consecutive day have hit not only the office goers but also the school students on Friday.
Owing to the 6-7km long queues on Ghodbunder Highway and 5km on Eastern Express Highway, many students had to return home as they did not reach school on time. School bus operators claimed that most children also reached school late in the morning as buses were stuck in the traffic for a long time and some ended up cancelling services.
For seven-year-old Aahan Varghese, who stays in Kalwa, reaching Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School in Thane was difficult and had to return home midway due to the traffic along this route on Friday.
“My son had left for school in a private van that had children from other schools as well but as the van got stuck in traffic for almost an hour and was delayed, the vehicle returned. We informed the school. Children not only missed lessons but also became tired waiting for so long in the vehicle,” said Shirley Varghese, 39, Aahan’s mother and a resident of Kalwa.
As the Ghodbunder Road and Eastern Express Highway were choc-a-bloc with traffic, it overflowed into the interior roads as well. “The interior roads of Kolshet and Balkum were also having slow vehicular movement, we requested parents to get the children at the society gates itself to avoid further delay,” said a bus operator.
Schools ensured that nothing new was taught so that children who missed school due to the traffic snarls did not miss out on classes.
Jyoti Nair, principal, New Horizon Scholars School, said, “Two of our buses with students from Majiwada were delayed by two hours in the morning. So, we asked children to stay at home and avoid getting stuck in the traffic in the afternoon batch. Some children also had to return home midway due to the heavy traffic. As there were many who could not make it, the teachers only conducted revision in class so that other students did not miss out on studies.”
School bus operators were also irked by the poor condition of the roads. Manoj Pawashe, president, Vidyarthi Vahatuk Sanghatna, said, “Most of the students in schools that start before 7am managed to reach but as the traffic increased, the situation got worse. We were on the verge of thinking that we would ourselves refuse to ply. But, as many children were ready for school, most operators continued to ply but hardly any reached school on time and there was almost an hour’s delay for students to reach home as well.”
Some schools themselves decided to not send school buses for the afternoon batch. Neelu Lamba, principal, Hiranandani Foundation School, Thane, said, “Students from the first batch that starts around 7am managed to reach on time but the bus operators informed us about the traffic on Ghodbunder Road and Eastern Express Highway, so we told parents to send their children at their own discretion. We did not have much of a difference in attendance though.”
Jayant Darekar, a parent and a resident of Patlipada who drove his 10-year-old girl to Euro School in Kasarvadavali, was stuck in traffic for almost 45 minutes and had to reach school half-an-hour after classes began. “We were sceptical and were thinking about returning home midway but the school understood our plight and allowed my child to attend classes,” said Darekar.