news details |
|
|
| Frequent accidents aside, gadgets to check fitness still unfit | | |
SALMAN NIZAMI
Jammu, May 21: Precious lives are being lost on the hilly roads every now and then and pollution is thickening in the urban area as crowd of vehicles is growing fast. Fitness or roadworthy-ness of vehicles is one such check which can minimise the death toll on roads as well as contain pollution in the cities. Ironically the gadgets for checking fitness are not working.
The winter capital and rest of the region witnesses hazardous traffic chaos with an increasing the number of vehicles every year at the rate of approximately 27000 annually, which is leading to increase in pollution as well as the accidents. According to official data for the last year about 843 were killed where as 3600 were injured in various road accidents due to movements unfit vehicles on the various roads, where as in the year 2009 till date about 105 people got killed whereas number of injured was recorded higher than that of last year in just last five months.
Vehicles getting the fitness certificates from the authorities could be misfit as the Regional Transport Office (RTO) lacks requisite gadgetry for the inspecting the vehicles. It’s mandatory for every vehicle to pass fitness test before plying on the roads. While the commercial vehicles need to be re-inspected annually, officials say, the domestic vehicles need to pass the tests after every 15 years. RTO’s Board of Inspection inspects the vehicles at Narwal where every day dozens of vehicles are given the clearance of fitness to ply on the roads.
“We only visually monitor the vechile by looking at trivial standards like condition of color, coating and the body alone just because we aren’t equipped with the requisite gadgetry,” said a motor inspector, requested not to be named. “For efficient testing,” he said, “the inspection system needs to be computerized on hi-tech basis.” He said the presently adopted “primitive techniques” could not judge if the vechile has some fatal snag. “There can be a deadly snag in the accelerator or engine, but we can’t check it in the absence of gadgets like speedometers and engine analyzers.”
Experts doubt the fitness of the cabs. “Misfit vehicles are more prone to mishaps” they said. Traffic police officials hold a similar opinion. They alleged that in the absence of requisite gizmos, even the misfit lot could be given clearance by the RTO. “If the inspector indulges into corruption, he can easily do the mischief. This ultimately can lead to a mishap for which none should be blamed, either cops or the bad roads but those who grant fitness certificates” said a senior police officer.
“Government as well as the officials at the helm of affairs in the concerned department are engaged to develop strategy regarding the issue now and then but nothing is being done practically” said Raju Singh and added that vehicle operators are ready to get checked the vehicles as per the orders by the PCB but lacking of the facility with the department cause inconvenience to all including passengers, operators as well as to the government.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
