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| J&K witnesses steady rise in road fatalities | | As overloading is a strong reason for road accident death toll, no traffic cop has been so far terminated, or booked in "murder" case | | BHARAT BHUSHAN
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 26: The steady rise in road fatalities is a matter of great concern for all. Not a day passes when two or three serious road mishaps do not occur on the killer J&K roads.
It is felt that whistling and hooting by passengers, hanging from the doors of the crammed buses, often lead to the distraction of driver's attention.
And, on the serpentine hilly roads, losing attention means nothing short of death. There is no chance to survive once the vehicle goes off the road, on one side of which is the hill and on the other are deep narrow steep-sided ravines.
People hang from the doors, or rise to the rooftops only when the buses are overloaded and do not have any place to sit, or stand inside.
So, apart from rash and negligent driving, overloading is another strong reason behind these road tragedies. On several occasions, overloaded buses have met with accidents in the mountain-locked Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri and Poonch districts in the past two years. Though hundreds of precious lives have been lost in them, there is not a single case of the government having handed over examplary punishment to the erring traffic police personnel.
When it is the most prime duty of tra ffic police to check overloading in passenger vehicles, they are to be directly held responsible for the road accidents caused due to overloading.
"Like the surviving drivers of these ill-fated vehicles, traffic cops ought to be booked under murder cases," remarked a senior citizen. "Why should they allow overloading until and unless they have personal interest?," he asked, saying the menace of overloading had thrived with impunity from law during the past few years.
Another Jammuite said when the government would start booking traffic cops for killer mishaps and registering murder cases against them, the graph of accidents would automatically scale down. On May 21 last, 26 persons lost their lives while over a hundred sustained critical injuries in five road accidents in Reasi and Rajouri districts.
SP (traffic) Alok Kumar ordered the suspension of a traffic police Sub-Inspector for allowing overloaded bus to leave Reasi town for the hilly Mahore area.
SIs and Inspectors were suspended in the past too after road mishaps in Bhaderwah and Doda areas, but most of them were later exonerated from all responsibility for the accidents. Suspension cannot be a punishment for the erring cops. Booking them under law was must, feel people.
The road accidents have taken a heavy toll of human life on the Jammu roads. A total of 1,031 people died while 7,562 were injured in 5,496 road accidents in the state during 2009. In 2008, 5,326 road accidents killed 950 people.
The steady rise in the number of tragic road accidents has emphasised the need for taking effective steps needed to control them. Apart from good tarmac roads, the authorities concerned should ensure that only those vehicles plied on roads which were declared fit.
The incident that took place at Bidda in Reasi on May 21 was a clear case of overloading. Against the capacity of 50 odd passengers, it carried 73. Nineteen people were killed in this mishap. Transport minister Qamar Ali Akhoon said the government was actually seized of the issue. "Stringent measures would be taken to stop overloading in buses and streamline traffic on roads," he asserted.
People said adequate number of passenger vehicles, including minibuses, be allowed to ply on the roads linking towns with remote places to avoid overloading.
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