“Unprecedented delay in the upgradation of the majority of the hilly roads connecting mountainous areas with plains in Kashmir valley and Jammu province is one of the major causes of fatal road accidents”.
The killing of 39 passengers in bus accident in Assar Doda early this week is yet another wake up call for the Jammu & Kashmir Government over the increasing vulnerability of the travelers to accidents on the hilly roads and more so in Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal areas of Jammu division. Announcing ex-gratia relief of lakhs of Rupees for the families of the victims may bring some timely relief to them but ex-gratia of even crores of rupees won’t al all reduce the vulnerability of travelers to accidents on hilly roads particularly those leading to inaccessible areas of Doda and Kishtwar districts in Chenab Valley and Poonch and Rajouri districts in Pir Panjal area. Fatal accidents resulting in the deaths of the scores of people month after month and year after year don’t head to any dead end on the hilly roads in the hilly districts obviously due to quiescent approach of the Government towards road widening of the inaccessible hilly roads of the hilly districts during summer months and high intensity regulation of traffic on such roads in peak winter months. Though people at the helm in J&K Traffic Police Department know much about the increasing vulnerability of travelers to accidents on hilly roads in hilly districts of Jammu division during winter but it does not intensify the traffic regulation on hilly roads of Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal district during the chilly months of winter to reduce the vulnerability of travelers to accidents. Obviously the widening of the hilly roads, their upgradation and regulation of traffic on such roads are the three pressing matters which if attended properly would surely reduce the increasing vulnerability of travelers to accidents on hilly roads in the hilly districts. Though Government has directed Divisional Commissioner Jammu to probe the causes of the bus accident that killed 39 passengers in Assar Doda but probe report if at all submitted in short times won’t reduce in short time the vulnerability of the travelers to accidents on the hilly roads in the hilly districts of Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal areas . It may be recalled here that once during the reign of popular Governments of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state a committee headed by the then CPI(M) legislator M.Y.Tarigami was constituted by erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir assembly to look into the causes of road accidents, but the recommendations of the probe report tabled by said committee in the assembly almost a year before the commencement of 2014 assembly elections did not get any attention from the popular Governments which ruled the erstwhile state till 2018 June . Interestingly Tarigami headed house committee of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir Assembly had laid emphasis on establishing driving schools for issuance of driving licenses to drivers and condemnation of old commercial vehicles ferrying passengers in thousands on highways daily .
“Experiences show that not only the dilapidated roads but traffic regulation is also responsible for increasing frequency of road accidents in the mountainous areas of both Chenab valley and Pir Panjal areas as the traffic police department does not forcefully regulate the traffic to reduce the trends of rash driving and curb the fast growing menace of overloading both in the plains and hilly areas of both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division. Had the authorities of the Traffic Police Department regulated the traffic to reduce the trends of rash driving and imposed curbs on overloading on the hilly roads in Doda District, the bus accident at Assar Doda that killed 39 travelers won’t have happened.”
While unprecedented delay in the upgradation of the majority of the hilly roads connecting mountainous areas with plains in Kashmir valley and Jammu province is one of the major causes of fatal road accidents , the R&B department does the routine patch work instead of full macadamisation of the dilapidated roads even in the plains and consequently death traps on dilapidated hilly roads are fast becoming the causes of major road accidents. Experiences show that not only the dilapidated roads but traffic regulation is also responsible for increasing frequency of road accidents in the mountainous areas of both Chenab valley and Pir Panjal areas as the traffic police department does not forcefully regulate the traffic to reduce the trends of rash driving and curb the fast growing menace of overloading both in the plains and hilly areas of both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division. Had the authorities of the Traffic Police Department regulated the traffic to reduce the trends of rash driving and imposed curbs on overloading on the hilly roads in Doda District, the bus accident at Assar Doda that killed 39 travelers won’t have happened. .
