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| Checking Road Accidents In Erstwhile Doda District | | Jammu Victim Of Discrimination | |  Neha
Jammu, Feb 15: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah yesterday expressed concern over the "frequent road accidents in hilly areas, especially in erstwhile Doda district" and said that the "Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) is being roped in to conduct detailed survey and formulate report suggesting remedial measures to check these accidents". "Road accidents in Doda-Kishtwar and other hilly districts in Jammu region have remained (matter) of greater concern to the Government", he said. The Chief Minister also said that "a new fleet of SRTC buses would be added to the present one plying in accident-prone areas, especially in erstwhile Doda district, to augment the transport facilities and reduce the chances of accidents due to overloads and aged vehicles". Omar Abdullah made these observations and suggestions while reviewing the District Development Plan for 2011-12 of Doda district.
One would surely appreciate the Chief Minister's concern over the "frequent road accidents" in the hilly areas of Jammu province. However, one would also, at the same time, be constrained to point out that the Chief Minister didn't reflect on the real cause that is actually responsible for frequent road accidents culminating in the death of numerous passengers. The real cause is the poor road connectivity in the Jammu province.
Roads are the lifeline of any region or any state. No one can expect its development without a proper road network. The figures as contained in the Report of the Task Force on development of Jammu and Kashmir show the extent to which the State Government has ignored Jammu in this very vital sphere. This Task Force was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006. According to it, the total road length in Kashmir in 2006 was 7129 kilometers. In contrast, the road length in Jammu was 4571 kilometers. In other words, the road density km / sq km in Kashmir and Jammu was 310.4 and 138.7, respectably. It's no wonder that most of the towns and villages in the Jammu's mountainous and hilly areas are inaccessible.
Take, for example, the startling story of road connectivity in Jammu province as revealed by the Task Force. It revealed that the erstwhile Doda district in Jammu province, which had a land area of 11,691 sq km, had road length of 613 km. This means that per sq km road density in Doda district to which former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, belongs was just 5.2 km. In Poonch district, the per sq km road density was 13 km as it had a land area of 1,674 sq km and road length of 217 km. As for erstwhile Udhampur district, the per sq km road density was 15.8 km as it had an area of 4,550 sq km and a road length of 719 km. In Rajouri district, the per sq km road density was 19.4 km. This district had a land area of 2,630 sq km and road length of 511 km. As for Kathua district, it was 29.5 km. Kathua had an area of 2,651 sq km and road length of 782 km. The erstwhile Jammu district was somewhat lucky. Here the per sq km road density was 55.8 km. The land area of Jammu district was 3,097 sq km and the road length 1,729 km.
All this shows neglect of Jammu province in the sense that the per sq km road density in this province, which contributes more than 70 per cent revenue to the state exchequer every year, was as low as 5.75 km. The position of Ladakh was even worse. Here the per sq km road density was 3.7 km. It may be noted that the Leh and Kargil districts had land areas of 45,110 sq km and 14,036 sq km and road length of 1,164 km and 676 km, respectively.
On the other hand, in Kashmir, the per sq km road density was as high as nearly 49 km in 2006, as against the Jammu's 5.75 km and Ladakh's 3.7 km. It is not an exaggeration.
The erstwhile Anantnag district had a land area of 3,984 sq km and 1,328 km of road length. That means that per sq km road density in this district was 33.3 km. In the erstwhile Pulwama district, the per sq km road density was 62.8 as it had 1,398 sq km area and 878 km road length. The per sq km road density in the erstwhile Srinagar district was 64 km. It had a land area of 2228 sq km and road length of 1425 km. Budgam district, like Pulwama and Srinagar districts, was highly privileged. In this district the road density per sq km was as high as 81.8 km as it had an area of 1,371 sq km and road length of 1,122 km. As for erstwhile Baramulla and Kupwara districts, the per sq km road density was 33.9 km and 34.6 km, respectively. The Baramulla district had 4,588 sq km of land area and 1,553 km of road length and Kupwara district 2,379 sq km of land area and 823 km of road length. (Development of Jammu and Kashmir Growth Generating Initiatives, Government of India, New Delhi, November 2006, p. 14). It needs to be noted that both these districts were basically ethnically non-Kashmiri.
The Chief Minister should take cognizance of what the Report of the Task Force on development of Jammu and Kashmir said and earmark the required funds so that Jammu province is brought at par with the privileged Kashmir as far as road connectivity is concerned. This is the only way we can prevent road accidents in the erstwhile Doda district or in the hilly areas of Jammu province. It's no use beating about the bush. |
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