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| Mayhem returns on Doda roads | | 41 dead, 13 injured in mishap | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 25: There is no end to the dance of death and destruction on the roads of erstwhile Doda district as least 41 persons were killed and around a dozen and half injured, most of them critically as a passenger bus fell down a deep gorge on Bhaderwah road.
Sources said that a bus bearing registration number 759/JKO2U was on way to Bhaderwah from Jammu when skidded off the road at a place called Galgander and fell some 200 feet down in the Neeru Nallah near Pull Doda. The incident occurred at around 8:30 AM.
As many as 38 passengers were reported to have been killed on the spot and 16 other sustained grave injuries in the mishap. The injured were airlifted to Jammu Medical College for specialized treatment, where three more succumbed to the injuries.
While police is investigation the cause of the mishap, eyewitness said that it occurred after the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a wrong parked beacon vehicle on the highway.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah along with former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and local legislators of the area flew in to Doda and took stock of the situation. At a review meeting in Doda, Abdullah said that four to five spots on National Highway 1A, 1B and Doda-Bhaderwah road would be identified where fully equipped quick rescue teams (QRT) would be deployed with ambulances for immediate rescue operations in times of road accidents. He said personnel of Border Road Organisation would be deployed to regulate traffic on the National Highway 1A on the spots where widening of the road is being undertaken even as he announced augmentation of the traffic department to minimise occurrence of road accidents.
Abdullah also suggested creation of a corpus to provide insurance cover to passengers travelling in commercial vehicles in the State so that in eventualities like today’s the families of the victims are paid relief from the corpus fund. He also issued instructions that the Motor Vehicle Department should put commercial vehicles to stringent annual scrutiny so that only fit vehicles ply on roads to carry passengers.
Abdullah said that a fleet of 30 SRTC buses will be deployed in the erstwhile Doda district for the facility of passengers. He also discussed alternate route to erstwhile Doda district and directed the engineers to prepare a detailed proposal in this regard. He also discussed opening of Sudhmahadev-Goha-Khileni road, Kokernag- Kapran road and Chatroo-Vailoo road through Singhpora Tunnel and desired that comprehensive proposals be made so that technical and financial feasibility of these roads is worked out.
The Chief Minister also visited the Doda hospital to see the injured in the accident admitted for treatment. He asked the hospital authorities to provide best possible medicare to them.
The Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, officers of the BRO, traffic and district administration were present in the meeting. Dr. Kotwal made a presentation on the road accident.
The Chief Minister had earlier announced ex-gratia relief of Rs. 25,000 each to the next of kin of those dead and Rs. 5,000 each to the injured in the accident. He also expressed deep shock and grief over the tragic loss of human lives in the accident.
Meanwhile, traffic resumed today on the National Highway 1B that had closed on February 6 after a stretch of the road had sunk near Assar. As many as 20 trucks with 9 tonnes of essential commodities each moved in the first half an hour. Heavy traffic also moved on the road.
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