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| Hearts pour out as House talks about accidents | | Baglihar’s role to be probed: Omar | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 27: As the graph of casualties in road accidents keeps mounting with over 100 lives lost in the preceding eight months the members of the Legislative Assembly today crossed the party and regional lines to express serious concern over the rising number of road accidents. Chief Minister expressed that expert opinion will be sought by conducting surveys to ascertain whether any damage has been caused to the highway due to the Baglihar project.
Abdullah replying the adjournment motion moved by the Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta in the House to discuss the accident occurred in the Doda district on February 25 said that a survey will be conducted to ascertain whether any damage has been caused to the highway due to the Baglihar project and expert opinion on the issue will also be sought from the Central Road Research Institute.
He told the House that immediate relief of Rs. 25000 for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs. 5000 for the injured has been announced and further declared that a Passenger Corpus Fund has been constituted for providing urgent relief to the accident victims. He said Rs. One lakh to the next kin of deceased and Rs. 10000 to Rs. 25000 to the injured will be paid out of this fund to the passengers of ill-fated bus.
Giving an account of the accident the Abdullah revealed before the House that the accident took place due to the negligence of a tipper driver who did not move his vehicle but asked the bus driver to pass at a spot which was narrow and slippery. The incident could have been avoided had the tipper driver removed the vehicle a little away from the spot. The Chief Minister further added that the bus which met with accident had the permit for 27 passengers but was carrying over 50 people.
Putting forward the immediate steps taken to control such happenings he said that officers have been instructed to keep an eye on overloading which will not be tolerated at all as overloading is one of the causes of accidents and the fleet of SRTC buses for Doda district will be increased by 30 buses to avoid overloading and cater to the commuters’ needs. He also added that quick response teams equipped with men and machinery would be stationed in the accident prone areas for immediate rescue measures.
Expressing grave concern over the issue the members of the assembly from almost all the parties and regions discussed the issue and also stressed upon identifying alternate road links like Bani-Basholi-Bhaderwah. Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta and Harsh Dev Singh and Aijaz Khan called for a comprehensive policy for improving condition of roads in the hilly and remote districts of Doda, Poonch and Rajouri and also the enhancement of the ex-gratia relief. Dr. Mohan Lal said that technical experts should be hired to look into the geological reasons for frequent erosions and seepage along roads in the area, whereas, Wakar Rasool Wani emphasized on the need of four-laning of the National Highway particularly on the Banihal-Ramban stretch. He also stressed on up gradation of the Trauma hospital at Banihal. Jugal Kishore demanded replacement of old buses with new ones and enhancement of relief. G. M. Saroori asked the Government to regulate the licensing system.
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