Students fined Rs 1L in drive against underage driving

Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad City and Ahmedabad Rural district education officers (DEOs) launched a drive on Monday targeting underage students bringing vehicles to schools without licences. The drive has been launched jointly with the Ahmedabad RTO office. In an Ahmedabad Rural school, 25 students faced punitive action for lacking proper documentation. The Ahmedabad City DEO's office also carried out inspections in three schools, examining students, parents, and school transport vehicles. Fines of about Rs 1 lakh were imposed during these drives.The Ahmedabad DEO's team collaborated with traffic police, RTO, and fire department teams to provide guidance on cybercrime awareness, road safety, career paths, and the Sarathi project. At Rajasthan Hindi High School, the authorities inspected students' vehicles, school buses, and parents' vehicles for insurance, licences, PUC, and helmets. The traffic police issued 15 memos, while the RTO issued 17 memos, resulting in a total fine of Rs 65,000. Similar drives were conducted at New HB Kapadia School and Sanskar Vidya Niketan School, with plans to continue these efforts in the coming days.The Ahmedabad Rural DEO's office conducted a morning drive at Narayan Guru School, where 50 students brought vehicles. While 25 students had proper licences and helmets and faced no action, the remaining 25 students without licences were fined. The traffic police imposed fines totalling Rs 17,000, and the RTO imposed fines of Rs 20,000, resulting in approximately Rs 40,000 in fines for the 25 students. During the drive, the DEO team distributed pamphlets on traffic rules and encouraged compliance by giving students roses.