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| Govt wakes up after 65 killings in 15 days | | Road Rash: CM chairs high level meeting, accident combat strategy discussed | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | May 12
ACTION PLAN
• Only 20 seater vehicles for hilly roads
• SRTC to operate service in accident prone areas
• All districts to have traffic nodal officers
• 25% of compound money to go on road awareness
• Training camps for hilly area drivers
• Steep, blind curves to be widened
With loss of around 65 lives in less than 15 days –on an average more than five persons every day –the government has woke up to the challenge of ghastly road accidents as the Chief Minister had a session with the concerned officers to draw out a strategy on curbing this menace.
After Sunday gruesome accident along the mighty Chenab which claimed lives of eight soldiers, in yet another day of road accidents three persons are reported to have been killed and ten injured in different mishaps.
In the backdrop of growing number of road accidents which is posed a more serious challenge than militancy in terms of killings, the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today convened a high level meeting of officers drawn from Traffic, Transport, road construction and other allied departments.
Azad has underscored the need for taking effective measures-short, medium and long term-for checking these mishaps, especially on Batote-Kishtwar national highway and hilly roads in the State. During the meeting, the Traffic department presented a power point presentation on the prevention of accidents.
The measures stressed by the Chief Minister included plying of 20-seater buses on narrow and hilly routes in Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur and Kathua districts. He issued instructions for purchasing small buses by SRTC for which Rs. one core would be released to the corporation. To begin with, these buses would be plied on hilly routes in Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts in view of the area having witnessed a number of road accidents recently leading to loss of many precious lives.
The exact requirement of such vehicles and the routes would be identified immediately and the buses deployed accordingly on tehsil and niabat level roads like Kishtwar to Gandoh, Sarthal, Paddar and Thakrai, Doda to Marmat, Bharat and Bhagwah, Ramban to Gool and other link roads, for Mahore, Gulabgarh and similar hilly and narrow roads in Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch districts.
Azad also issued instructions for imparting training to drivers who would ply these buses. He called for joint inspection of Batote-Kishtwar highway by the traffic police and BRO authorities to identify the narrow and blind zigs and spots which need immediate widening. He underlined the need for taking up widening of such spots on war footing to complete it within a month and a half. He said that parapets and retaining walls be also constructed at the vulnerable spots and traffic signage in Urdu and Hindi languages installed about the condition of the road ahead.
It was decided to designate nodal officers of the traffic department for these district headquarters and other places to ensure strict enforcement of traffic rules and regulations and check overloading and rash and negligent driving.
The need was also felt for time regulations of buses and plying of more passenger buses at peak hours to avoid rash driving and overloading. Backup depots would also be set up by SRTC for effecting timely repair of its fleet of vehicles for ensuring their road worthiness.
The meeting also decided that 25% of the compound fee raised by the traffic department would be provided to it as incentive for establishment of road safety fund to be utilized for undertaking road safety campaigns, carrying out studies for traffic management and road safety and purchase of traffic signage and signals.
The meeting, among others, was attended by Chief Secretary, B. R. Kundal, Director General of Police, Kuldeep Khoda, Transport Commissioner, P. S. Gill, Secretary, R&B, Shailendra Kumar, IG Traffic, M. A. Shah, IGP Headquarters, P. L. Gupta, Deputy Commissioner, Doda, Khurshid Ahmad Bhat and Chief Engineer, Border Roads Organization. |
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