The administration had set a Dec 1, 2008, deadline for installation of the speed governors. It extended it to March 20 and then further to July 10. The administration had taken this decision in the wake of increasing road accidents. After the installation of speed governors, no bus driver can drive beyond the speed of 50 km per hour.

A senior official, who did not want to be named, said: 'The bus operators told us to first install speed governors in the CTU (Chandigarh Transport Undertaking) buses. Now all the CTU buses are equipped with it. We cannot give them any more time.'

'To tackle the situation, CTU has decided to start 30 more buses to help the students but their routes have not been decided yet,' he added.

The sudden strike by private school bus operators caught many students - and parents - unawares.

'We were surprised when we came to know about this strike in the morning while we were waiting for the bus at bus stop. Neither the school authorities nor the bus operator informed us about the strike. We thought that school bus was late and our children had to miss school,' said Ashish Sharma.

Added Bhavna Mittal, a bank executive and mother of two: 'I had dropped my children to school but nobody is free in the afternoon to pick them. Today, I have requested my neighbours to pick them. If this strike stretches on, it would be a big problem for us.'