Jammu KashmirRoad accidents increase in JK

Road accidents increase in JK

Date:

Road accidents increase in JK

No implementation of House Committee recommendations 

NL Correspondent

SRINAGAR: Despite increase in road accidents, the government has failed to act on the recommendations submitted by a House Committee in 2012.

According to the official figures of the Traffic Department, around 11,000 road accidents have been reported annually for the last two years in the state.

The actual number, according to police officials, should be much higher as many incidents go unreported.

In 2015, 917 people lost their lives in 5,800 road accidents. In 2016, 958 lives were claimed and over 7,700 suffered injuries in road accidents in the state. This means three people die on an average daily in the state.

Between 2011 and 2014, 3,960 people have lost their lives in road accidents and more than 30,000 people were injured in over 20,000 road mishaps.

The absence of trauma centres on highways in the state leads to delays in medical help and contribute to fatalities.

“The number of road accidents in and , which claim around one thousand lives per year, is double than the average, based on population of the state,” an SP-rank traffic police officer said.

“Over 60 per cent of the total natural deaths in the state have been caused by road accidents, while the national average is around 30 per cent,” he added. Most of the road accidents have happened in twin capitals of the state, mostly in Ramban and Doda districts of the Jammu region.

The Chenab Valley in Jammu region, particularly Doda district, with tough terrain has witnessed a steep increase in the accidents over the past few years.

While a House Committee, under the chairmanship of MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, submitted its report in April 2012.

It had come up with a slew of recommendations for the Transport, Traffic department, R&B, and other departments for curbing the growing road accidents. It had found increase in the number of vehicles, narrow and faulty roads, negligent driving, and ageing vehicles are among the reasons seen for growing accidents in J&K.

However, official sources said the government had failed to act on the recommendations of the committee. The government, in 2015, had set up a ‘Lead Agency' to act as the secretariat for the State Road Safety Council and coordinate all activities relating to the road safety in the state.

“The setting up of the agency has been confined to papers only,” an official said.

A traffic official said it was not only the job of Traffic Department to reduce the road accidents.

“Everyone has to get involved, only then can such incidents be avoided,” he said. There has been 100 percent increase in traffic violations since 2010. As per the official figures of the traffic department, 3,79,319 traffic violators were challaned in 2010, through 59,782 court challans and 3,19,537 compound challans.

For the last six years, there has been 100 percent increase in challans. In 2016, the traffic department has challaned 6,62,930 traffic violators through 64610 court challans and 5,98,320 compound challans. During January and February, 2017, 77481 people have been challaned. Increased the number of challans implies that traffic department is collecting more revenue for the government.

In Srinagar city alone, the traffic police has collected more than Rs 5 crore from parking violators since 2011, out of which more than Rs 1 crore have been paid to owners of cranes that lift wrongly parked vehicles. The rest Rs 4 crore have been deposited in the government treasury.

On the other hand, no measures are being taken to reduce traffic accidents in the state.

Northlines
Northlines
The Northlines is an independent source on the Web for news, facts and figures relating to Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and its neighbourhood.

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