8-year-old girl dead, 5 students injured as autorickshaw overturns in Yamunanagar

NEW DELHI: An eight-year-old schoolgirl died and five other students were injured when their autorickshaw overturned after being hit by a motorcycle here on Monday, police said. They said the injured children were taken to a private hospital. The girl, a student of Class 3, died during treatment at a private medical facility, police added. The students were on their way home in the autorickshaw when the incident occurred, they said.

This comes days after a school bus overturned in Mahendragarh, leaving six children dead and around 20 injured. The Haryana Private School Federation on Monday said the state government should strictly implement the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for over 5,000 school buses plying in the state. Its president Kulbhushan Sharma demanded the implementation of a comprehensive safe vehicle policy to prioritise student safety.

Commenting on the ongoing special drive across Haryana to crack down on school buses plying without necessary documents and valid permits, he said the federation was not against such checking but alleged that in some cases, a 'selective approach' was being adopted. Sharam claimed that in Ambala district, even new buses parked in a school building complex were targeted.

In the wake of the Mahendragarh school bus accident case, Haryana Chief Secretary T V S N Prasad last week issued stringent directives to the civil and police administration to check within the next 10 days the fitness of all school buses in their districts.