Scores of parents of schoolchildren of Belagavi Cantonment locality have urged the Belagavi Police to take corrective measures for the safety of their children using the busy roads in the area.
Following a road accident on Wednesday, in which a 10-year-old student Arhan Bepari was killed and two were injured, parents led a delegation to meet officials at the Police Commissionerate in Belagavi on Thursday and sought remedial and preventive measures. Wednesday’s accident resulted in tension in the locality and also a protest.
At the Police Commissionerate, Deputy commissioner of Police (Crime), Belagavi, P.V. Sneha heard their concerns and promised to take the requisite steps, including a ban on entry of heavy vehicles during school hours.
Submitting a memorandum addressed to the Police Commissioner, parents mentioned that Belagavi Cantonment area have the city’s oldest and biggest schools such as St. Paul’s, St. Joseph’s, St. Mary’s, St. Xavier’s, St. Anthony’s, Islamiya, Cantonment School, B.K. Mode, Jijamata School and Kendriya Vidyalaya.
And, nearly 18,000 students and their parents used Khanapur Road, an arterial route twice during the day. However, there was no proper traffic management or traffic calming measures on the road, they said.
They also said that the police should stop allowing heavy vehicles on the route during school hours — between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.; install speed-breakers at all intersections on Khanapur Road; increase the duration of green signal from 12 seconds to 24 seconds across Khanapur Road at Globe Cinema Juncture (to facilitate crossing Khanapur Road from Telegraph Road towards Independence Road) and deploy traffic personnel at every intersection.
The delegation of parents comprised Sunil, Santosh, N.K. Fateh Khan, Sohail, Aruna Nitin, Priyanka Jain, Vikram, Anna D’souza, Kavitha, Arun and others.
Responding to their plea, the Deputy Commissioner of Police promised to extend the ban on heavy vehicles and ask the school authorities to appoint guards to monitor student movement outside the respective schools.
