19 of marriage party killed, 55 injured in
Collection of Rs 20 crore fine from erring drivers fails to decrease road accidents in J&K; 1100 die in the year 2011-12
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Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Nov 24: : Nineteen persons died and 55 others of a marriage party sustained injuries when their bus skidded off the road and plunged into a 300-ft deep gorge in Ramnagar area of Udhampur district on Saturday night.
Inspector General of Police,
Nineteen persons, including two brothers of the bride groom, died till late this evening. The IGP said that 11 of them died on spot and others subsequently succumbed to injuries either en route or under treatment at two hospitals in Udhampur and
Even after some patients were discharged today, nearly 45 of the injured were still admitted and under treatment at
Minister of Health, Sham Lal Sharma, visited the injured at the three hospitals today. Deputy Commissioner, P K Pole, and Senior Superintendent of Police, Udhampur, Ashkoor Wani, said that almost all the injured were responding to treatment. Mr Wani said that the rescue operation took several hours overnight, despite a helping hand by CRPF, as the site of the accident was nearly 60 Kms off Chinani on
Some of those killed in the tragedy have been identified as Purshotam Singh and Joginder Singh, real brothers of bridegroom Rakesh Singh, besides Karnail Singh, son of Nasib Singh, Mohd Shafiq son of Mohd Din, Kuldeep Singh son of Kirpal Singh, and Balbir Singh son of Bodh Raj, all residents of Basantgarh.
Governor, N.N. Vohra, and Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, have said that they were shocked over the huge loss of life. Chief Minister directed the authorities to provide best possible treatment to the injured, even if anybody would have to be flown to PGI Chandigarh or
Today’s, according to authoritative sources, was the umpteenth of such tragedies in Udhampur-Doda belt of Jammu region where more than 200 commuters are estimated to have died in identical road accidents in the last two years. Officials said that, like many of such incidents in the past, the ill-fated bus on Saturday was 15 years old. It was not immediately clear whether or not the driver was carrying a license.
The matter of issuance of over 50,000 driving licenses in two years by Regional Transport Officers of Udhampur and Doda few years back has been raked up by media and the civil society. However, men of consequence in politics and bureaucracy have proactively shielded the accused officials, allegedly for a larger nexus. Even the CBI has given a clean chit to some of the accused, allegedly for pecuniary considerations.
A House Committee of J&K Legislature, which was set up in the wake of intense public criticism of the alleged nexus, has failed to stop operation of condemned vehicles by drivers carrying fake licenses in the hilly terrain that has grown quite infamous for road accidents in the last four years.
J&K Transport Commissioner, Meraj Ahmad Kakru, admitted that operation of condemned buses, often handled by incompetent drivers, was a major reason of the alarming rate of road accidents in Doda-Udhampur belt. He told The Hindu that as many as 1,100 persons had died in such accidents in J&K in 2011-12 alone. Mr Kakru said that the government had taken a slew of measures to reduce these numbers. As of now, he said, there was “little improvement”.
Mr Kakru said that Traffic Police and Motor Vehicle Department had imposed penalties and collected fine worth Rs 20 Crore from the erring drivers last year. He said that all executive magistrates were now being authorized to seize vehicles 15 years of age or more. “They have been directed to launch an awareness campaign and discourage overloading and driving by incompetent drivers with harsher methods”, Mr. Kakru said.
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