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| Govt.fails to check road accidents | | | Overloading in buses and matadors,resulting in series of road accidents in which scores of people get killed,is a major menace that has not been tackled by the National Conference led Government during the last over two years.The phenomenon of carrying 75 to 80 passengers against the seating capacity of 40 in big buses and over 50 against the seating capacity of 20 in matadors,that ply on the hilly routes in the state,is not of a recent origin.It has been in vogue for the last several years.And the Government besides the state agencies,including the police,talk about the menace of overloading in passenger buses after every road accident.Each road accident is followed by sermons from the Government and the police,especially from the Traffic Depar tment,promising to end the menace.Ironically each promise is followed by incidents of deaths of innocent people in road accidents.At times ministers and other highups in the Government blame the
traffic
police for their inability to check overloading and on other occasions they hold bad roads responsible for the accidents.
Whatever may be the reason more lives are lost in the state,especially in the hilly areas of Doda,Kishtwar,Poonch and Rajouri besides some pockets of Reasi and Udhampur districts than in the militancy related violonce..And if the road accidents take place on the highway linking Jammu with Srinagar there is nothing to feel amazed about it given the nature of the curves on the highway and the dangers of landslides and avalanches.Each road accident is followed by a loud commitment on the part of the concerned Government agencies on checking overloading.Invariably blueprint of the measures the Government plans to initiate for checking overloading is circulated.Alas! no action on that.Alas!no implementation of the anti-overloading plan.And the drivers and owners of the buses have learnt to treat threats from Government lightly.Their experience has taught them to behave properly for a week and then resort to overloading for the purpose of
minting money.
Besides overloading two other banes have affected smooth and accident free journey in Jammu and Kashmir.One is atleast 30 to 40 per cent buses and matadors,plying on various routes,have outlived their utility.They are no longer road worthy.Their rickety frame and other parts,according to experts,are another reason for high rate of road accidents in the state.Secondly, a large number of drivers have managed to secure fake driving licences or licences after bribing the issuing authorities.The result is that such a category of drivers fail to negotiate with the curves on the highways in the hilly areas of the state.Hence the Government needs to adopt a three-pronged strategy for tackling the menace of road accidents.It is needed in the light of the reports revealing that more than 70 lives were lost in the road accidents during the last five months in the Jammu region.Strategy No.1.Tackle the overloading by imposing heavy penalities not only
to the drivers but to the owners of the buses.Stratgy No.2.After every six months every driver should be asked to renew their driving licence by appearing in the tests.Stratgy.No.3.A committee of experts be set up to check road worthiness of each bus and matador.Those having lost road worthiness should be impounded and the owners be paid some compensation.
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