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| ’27 Seater bus was carrying over 50 passengers | | |
Early Times Report
JAMMU, FEBRUARY 27 – Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Mr. Taj Mohi-ud-Din today informed the Legislative Council that at around 9.15 a.m. on February 25, a passenger bus with registration No. JK02U-759, while on way from Bhaderwah to Jammu, rolled down the Neeru Nallah at Galginder, about 2 km from Pul Doda. As many 34 passengers died on-the-spot and 15 persons were injured, out of which 5 succumbed to their injuries in the Doda District Hospital. Nine of the seriously injured passengers were airlifted to the GMC, Jammu, out of which 2 persons have died raising the death toll to 41.
The Minister was replying to a Calling Attention Notice tabled by Mr. G. S. Charak, Mr. P. Namgyal and M. Y. Taing in the Upper House today.
He said immediately after the accident was reported, relief operations were launched by the district administration. The Chief Minister, Mr. Omar Abdullah rushed District Hospital, Doda and enquired about the health of the injured. He also announced an ex gratia of Rs. 25,000 for the next of kin/legal heir of deceased and Rs. 5,000 to the injured. The ex gratia has already been disbursed by the district administration, he added.
On the instrcutions of the Chief Minister, mr. Omar Abdullah, the Minister said FIRs stand registered under Nos. 23/2009, u/s 279/237/304A RPC and 24/2009, u/s 147/427 RPC at Police Station Bhaderwah and investigations are on to ascertain the reasons of the accident.
The Minister, however said based on preliminary investigations, it appears that Project BEACON has taken up the double-laning of the entire stretch of Batote-Kishtwar NHI-B and the work on the project has resulted in obstructions at different places. He added that the debris collected during the construction of road often results in hill-side dumping which makes the road vulnerable to road accidents.
He said in case of the ill-fated bus, it would appear that there was a BEACON tipper parked on the hill-side of the road at the accident spot. The bus driver tried to manoeuvre around the tipper and in the process fell down into the nullah. The weak edge of the road at that point must have also have contributed to the accident, the Minister added.
Mr. Taj said the bus was heavily overloaded and against its permissible capacity of 27, it appeared that it was carrying around 50 passengers.
A large number of people were travelling in the bus given that the Assar road stretch had just been restored after remaining closed for more than three weeks. He however said overloading of buses in the district is a chronic problem.
He said instructions have been issued to SP Traffic, National Highway to ensure that proper checking of buses is done so as to prevent overloading. The Government is shortly going to procure 20 mini-buses for SRTC which would be exclusively operate on Doda-Kishtwar route so as to provide better facility to the travellers.
About the medical arrangements for the injured, Mr. Taj informed that after receiving the news of the accident, seven ambulances from Doda District Hospital , AH Thatri, PHC Ghat, CHC Bhaderwah and CMO office along with Medical teams were rushed into service.
He said 29 dead bodies were shifted to Doda Hospital mortuary where post-mortem was done and subsequently the bodies were handed over to the relatives. Five dead bodies were shifted to CHC, Bhaderwah and handed over to the relatives after completing necessary formalities.
He said 21 injured were shifted to District Hospital Doda, out of which five succumbed to their injuries. Out of the 16 injured, seven were treated at District Hospital, Doda and were discharged in the next two days. Other injured were airlifted to GMC , Jammu, the Minister explained.
He said out of the eight injured persons airlifted to GMC Jammu, one namely ms. Shabnam, d/o Abdul Latif was declared brought dead while another namely Ms. Shahnaz Bano, d/o Ghulam Qadir is critical and presently admitted in the resuscitation room in the Casualty. However, all the seven patients have been thoroughly examined by the doctors and free CT, USG and other investigations were provided to them. The accidents victims have also been attended by the Disaster Management Committee of the hospital, he added.
Mr. Taj further said that in order to provide effective emergency healthcare facilities on National Highway, construction of a trauma centre at Thatri is presently under execution at a cost of Rs. 1.41 crore. He also said that the Health Department has signed MoU with the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for up-gradation of trauma facilities at Sher-e-Kashmir Memorial Accidental Hospital, Batote, Government District Hospital, Udhampur, Emergency Hospital, Banihal, District Hospital, Ramban besides Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu. The department has also formulated 17 project proposals for establishment of trauma centres at various other accident-prone locations in the State, which include Assar and Khillani in Doda and forwarded the same for approval to the Union Ministry.
The Minister said the Health Department has a proposal to invite Expression of Interest (EOI) for establishment of Emergency Management Response System in the State al a Andhra Pradesh Model with modification suitable to the requirement of the State.
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