With only five days to go for the schools to reopen and the ban on autorickshaws from ferrying students already in force from Thursday, there is panic among the parents in the absence of any alternate arrangement for sending their wards to school. The State Transport Authority (STA) and the Education department have failed to provide any other means of transport for the schoolchildren.

Earlier, officials from the STA had said they had arranged for CTU buses on a temporary basis for students who were commuting in autorickshaws. If the STA’s latest official version is taken into consideration, the department has not received any notification on this so far from the CTU. Talking to Newsline, STA secretary Vandana Disodia said: “We had sent a proposal to the CTU and our job ends there. Only the CTU director can now throw further light on the issue.” The director was unable for comments despite repeated attempts.

Schools have decided to deploy school buses especially for those students who were commuting by autos. Saroj Sawant, principal, Moti Ram Arya School, said: “We do not wish to put our students to any kind of inconvenience. We will use school buses to transport children who were earlier coming by autorickshaws. We are working on the details of the route.”

Anu Kumar, principal, Stepping Stones, too said school buses were not the only alternative conveyance at the moment.