This is not only regrettable
and unfortunate that in state of Jammu and Kashmir the road accidents claim
thousands of lives each year and yet we the people and government do almost
nothing to save these precious lives of our own people.
Even yesterday two tragic news of another road accidents broke, One road
accident in Ramban district where 17 People got killed on spot and 34 injured ,
the ill fated night service bus was carrying 51 people. Another road accident
also happened there in Majalta Tehsil of distt. Udhampur where another bus
carrying passenger met with an accident and there also loss of lives is
reported.
When will find news of accidents in newspapers, then would talk about it for a
while then forget. We never spare time to think seriously about the issue, the
situation is so grave and we are just trying to bury it under the carpet, we
want to close our eyes, that is not the solution. If we want to stop these
unavoidable killings of our people we have to formulate the policies, law. We
have to strengthen our infrastructure and traffic managing authorities including
traffic police.
Road accidents in Jammu & Kashmir State especially in the Chenab valley & Pir
Panjal region are breaking all previous records. Hardly any day passes when the
there is no news of a road accident in the erstwhile Doda district & in the twin
hilly districts of Rajouri & Poonch. Precious lives are lost in these accidents.
Now it has become a serious problem on the hilly roads of the Chenab valley &
Pir Panjal region. One month back also on 18thApril, 2014 a road accident took
place at Drabshala in Kishtwar where 6 persons were killed. Similarly on 20th of
this month a tragic road accident took place at Sher Bi-Bi area of Banihal in
which a woman & a man were killed on the spot & seven other passengers were
injured. On 9th of this month an accident took place at Manhore Gala in Rajouri
involving a passenger bus where a lady was killed on the spot & 30 others were
injured. Likewise on 12th April, 2014 at Sagroot in Rajouri, a Tata Mobile met
with a road mishap killing one person & injuring 12 others.
As per reports 40 cement bags were loaded in the vehicle still the driver
carried 12 passengers in the vehicle that too on the road, were even pedestrian
feel it tough to cross. This road accident reflects the negligence by the
driver. As per a report, in Kashmir valley 688 persons were killed in road
accidents during the last two years & more than 2 thousand persons were injured.
In these road accidents where precious lives were lost, at the same time most of
the injured persons have become permanently disabled, a good number of them are
children & women, who have been victimized badly and rendered dependent on
others for all activities of life. Director General of Police (DGP) Mr. Ashok
Parsad while flagging of a rally held in connection with Road Safety Week at
Police Sports Stadium, Jammu on 7th January this year made a starling disclosure
that the number of deaths caused by the road accidents is higher than those
caused by militancy in this State since the last 22 years of insurgency. He also
indicated that 90 percent road accidents take place due to traffic rules’
violations. The statement of DGP clearly indicates that road accidents are a
menace not less than terrorism. The government transport in J and K State has
shrinked & only the public transport is evident. As per a survey every year
thousands of new vehicles enter roads. With the construction of new roads and
widening of existing ones it was assumed that road accidents may reduce but same
has proved counterproductive on ground.
Anyhow modernization of roads in the hilly areas of the Jammu province including
that of Ramban,Udhampur, Doda,Kishtwar ,Samba, Kathua & Rajouri –Poonch is still
a distant dream. The main cause of road accidents in these areas is the poor
condition of roads. The other causes include overloading, inefficiency of the
traffic cops, license issued to the youths fraudulently. Apart from all these
there is no culture of following speed limits at Highways especially in Chenab
valley and Pir Panchal region. Need of the hour is that besides the Zebra
crossing on the roads, the problem of overloading should be dealt with.
Co-operation and coordination between traffic police, transporters & public at
large is imperative to heave a sigh of relief in this regard. It is the prime
duty of the government to bring a comprehensive transport policy about which
only assurances are made every time. The government should take effective
measures to improve the deteriorating condition of the roads. Need of the hour
is that the traffic police should perform its duties sincerely & honestly. Mere
fining the overloaded vehicles is not sufficient. Chronic traffic violators
should be dealt sternly. It is always alleged that traffic cops deliberately
allow traffic violations as their palms are greased by violators especially
those lacing proper documents for travelling and all this results into road
accidents. Therefore it becomes the duty of the traffic police to work
dedicatedly & honestly to improve its image and also to aware the people of
traffic rules.
We need to make people accountable, for every road accident there must be a
judicial probe to find out the reason and then put an onus on the guilty, if the
quality of the road is not upto the mark, then the PWD officer must be taken to
task, for overloading the traffic police officer of the area need to booked
under for negligence of duties, if there is another technical snag in the
vehicle then the Transport department that have issued the fitness certificate
to vehicle must be punished.
Traffic week should not be celebrated only once in a year, rather efforts should
be made to make aware the people of the traffic rules by conducting seminars,
workshops etc. It also becomes the duty of the every member of civil society to
co-operate with the traffic department so that the loss of the precious lives
can be avoided. If the persons at helm of affairs are sincere in controlling the
traffic accidents, then the revolutionary changes in the transport & traffic
department are inevitable. The over loading is one of the major reason for road
accidents, the citizens should also pledge that they would not ferry an over
loaded bus/matador. Especially in the rural areas we find even small school
going kids hanging on the roof of the vehicles. Hope good sense prevails and the
precious lives of the people are saved.