Bus drivers’ inhumane act
Dear Sir,
I was enraged at the way the bus drivers employed by a company and assigned to a particular school in Doha had suddenly gone on a strike, leaving many children stranded. Of course, the parents were notified and the school did what they could in such a situation. Most of the parents vented their anger at school authorities. Some parents came to the school to pick up their children eventually. Thank goodness for all that.
But my question is, if the drivers had to strike why didn’t they do so before picking up the children in the morning? Did they decide to pick up the children and then go on strike just to draw the attention towards their demands? No matter how bad their woes and complaints are to justify their action, I personally feel that this was an inhumane act by the drivers and I feel no sympathy for them although they may have been treated badly by their company.
It is plain to see that the strike was pre-planned to make the maximum effect by leaving little children stranded at school without their parents or the school having any prior hint. I sincerely doubt these drivers have any humanity in them.
I would like to ask any of the drivers involved personally if they would have taken such a course had their own children been left at school at such a time? I am sure they wouldn’t have an answer.
I hope the authorities take action not only against the transport company involved but also against the drivers. Frankly, I don’t see how the drivers have any justification to keep little children stranded at the school, considering some could have been as small as four.
L Iyengar, [email protected]
A colossal breakdown
Dear Sir,
How could I describe the feeling? Having travelled 90km away from Doha for work, I got a call from my worried wife on Sunday about our children not being back from school even after the usual time. Frantic calls and desperate attempts to contact the relevant people at the school were unsuccessful; soon I received a call from a friend on holiday in the UK about an SMS informing about “…situation out of control, please pick your ward from DMIS School”. It is interesting to note that his children don’t use the school bus transport.
I looked through my SMS messages but there was nothing from the school. And I called some of my friends in Doha and came to know about the “lightning strike” by DMIS school bus drivers. I had to make arrangements through my friends to have the children safe back home.
Any institution or organisation is susceptible to such unexpected surprises. But the efficiency of the institution lies in being proactive in preventing anticipated and mitigating unanticipated failures.
Sunday’s incident is a “colossal breakdown of the emergency response management”, if I can call it that. I read reports that the school management was planning to take legal action against the drivers. The need of the hour is to restore normality to the school bus transport system on a war footing.
The transport problem at DMIS has been nagging parents for quite some time now. Most of the buses seldom reach on time and the children miss the school assembly regularly. I don’t intend to fish in troubled waters. But the problem is not “sudden” and “unexpected”.
This incident is an eye-opener for other problems that are lying beneath the surface and I request that the Indian embassy will have some sort of control over the functioning of the Indian schools in Qatar.
And back to Sunday: Eventually, I received the SMS at 4pm.
An affected parent, (Full name and address supplied)
A lesson for the future
Dear Sir,
My children are studying in Doha Modern Indian School (DMIS). On Sunday, school bus drivers picked up the children in the morning but didn’t bring them back on time as they went on a strike. The school management informed this news only to few parents. Many parents had to call the school and they have been advised to pick up their children by the parents. Children were stranded in the school for a couple of hours.
Such things should not happen in future in the interest of schoolchildren and their parents.
SN, (Full name and e-mail address supplied)
The right punishment
Dear Sir,
In reference to the report, “Concern over overtaking from right” (Gulf Times, September 15), I feel there are two main issues which should be addressed.
1) In case of accident due to overtaking from right side and rash driving, the culprit now escapes easily just by handing over his insurance papers to the innocent victim who has to go for several days without a car and pay any extra cost for repair from his pocket for no fault of his own.
If there is a rule for compensating the victim by providing him a rented car at least for a week by the person who made the mistake, it will be fairer than the present arrangement. This penalty will make drivers extra careful.
2) Drivers who go slow in the fast lane, holding up the traffic must be penalised. They force other drivers to overtake from the wrong side.
Anwar Ul Haq, PO Box 664, Doha
Please send us your letters
By e-mail
Fax 44350474
All letters, which are subject to editing, should have the name of the writer, address and phone number. The writer’s name and address may be withheld by request.