Jammu, May 11: Road accidents are a common thing in Jammu and Kashmir and when it comes to Jammu-Srinagar or Jammu-Doda highway, the situation is worst and most of the people have lost their lives on these roads only but then in J&K who cares?
Powers that be have been expressing shocks, are grieved and offer condolences and sometimes ‘pull the traffic police and traffic department’ but that remains confined to the press notes only and nothing on ground is visible since ages.
It was recently that even the Hon’ble Governor had expressed serious concern over the rapid road accidents on Doda Kishtwar roads in which numerous lives were lost but it seems even his orders were not carried forward as the road accidents due to bad roads, negligent driving and more importantly over loading continue to snatch lives on more rapid scale.
The enormity of the situation can be gauged by the fact that in 2013 in a written reply to a question by CPI (M) member M Y Tarigami the then chief Minister Omar Abdullah had said that over 4,000 people lost their lives in as many as 25,495 road accidents in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009 to 2013.
He added that the maximum numbers of 2401 mishaps were reported from erstwhile Doda district in which 823 persons lost their lives.
More recently in a written reply to a question by member Yasir Reshi in Legislative Council, the current Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said that 892 people have died and 8,733 were injured in 6,067 road accidents in Kashmir Valley alone during the last three years adding 326 people were killed and 3,330 were injured in 2,185 accidents in 12 districts of Kashmir valley in 2012, followed by 309 people killed and 2,843 injured in 2,088 road accidents in 2013.
Similarly, 257 people were killed and 2,560 injured in 1,794 mishaps in 2014, he said.
These kinds of questions were asked by the legislators as a universal concern was expressed by the society over unabated killings on the roads due to road accidents which are attributed to bad road conditions, outdated vehicles, unlicensed drivers and over loading of the vehicles.
In May 2014 atleast 17 people were killed when a bus fell into a deep gorge near Digdole on Jammu-Srinagar highway with politicians of all hues expressing grief and blaming the poor administration and traffic management while as the government as usual promised strict action.
Since then many more lives have been lost but the universal response of the politicians’ remains the same and the accidents are conveniently forgotten after a while.
The focus on the road accidents was shifted again to these killer roads today when at least 24 people were killed and 30 injured with six people in critical condition, when a crowded bus veered off a mountain road and plunged down a gorge near Maroti. The passenger bus was on its way to Udhampur from Latti when the accident occurred.
According to BBC crashes are common in India and are often caused by poorly maintained vehicles, overloading and bad driving.
Road accidents have earned India a dubious distinction. With over 130,000 deaths annually, the country has overtaken China and now has the worst road traffic accident rate worldwide.
This has been revealed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its first ever Global Status Report on Road Safety. The report pointed to speeding, drunk driving and low use of helmets, seat belts and child restraints in vehicles as the main contributing factors.
Every hour, 40 people under the age of 25 die in road accidents around the globe. According to the WHO, this is the second most important cause of death for 5 to 29 year olds.
In India alone, the death toll rose to 14 per hour in 2009 as opposed to 13 the previous year. The total number of deaths every year due to road accidents has now passed the 135,000 mark, according to the latest report of National Crime Records Bureau or NCRB.
However these statistics cannot be taken as an excuse by the state government to shrug off its responsibility to bring discipline on the roads as well as among the officials responsible for maintaining the roads and traffic besides taming the errant drivers who also contribute majorly for such loss of life.
It is time the government formulates the traffic policy which the citizens of this state have been hearing for a long time and the concerned officials and officers are held responsible for such a huge loss of life so that discipline is maintained on roads through random checking on overloading, outdated vehicles, drivers licenses and of course the condition of the roads.
Till then we will continue to lose precious human lives in such road accidents and the government officials will continue to blame each other for the mess.