Avtar Bhat
JAMMU/KATHUA, Sept 27: Contrary to the expectations of the people that the four-lanning of National Highway from Lakhanpur to Jammu will ease their problems by relieving them of frequent traffic jams and accidents, the 85 kilometers long NH from Lakhanpur to Satwari has earned the notoriety of being a “death trap’’ now with the increasing road accidents daily.
With the increasing road accidents on this portion of NH for last two years it has earned a notoriety of being a “death trap’’ for the people and in most cases the hit and run accidents are almost reported daily due to lack of proper vigil and check on the part of the concerned authorities.
According to official figures during the year 2014, about 218 accidents took place on National Highway in Kathua district alone in which 42 people lost their lives while 311 were injured.
On this patch of National Highway up to June this year, 24 people were killed in accidents while 96 were injured. In most of the cases the drivers fled after the accident and were not traced though police registered cases under hit and run.
The increasing road mishaps have been the cause of concern for the people especially those living adjacent to NH and they blame the authorities for their callousness.
The failure of NH authorities to maintain the Highway coupled with negligence of the administration to keep the land encroachers on the bay who have grabbed the service lanes across the Highway right from Lakhanpur to Vijaypur has not only been the cause of concern for the people but one of the major causes of increasing road accidents on the Highway. This is the general feeling of the people living along the Highway, he added.
However, in view of increasing road accidents and public resentment, the authorities are turning tough towards the encroachers of service lanes on NH. A concerted drive will be launched by Traffic Police from Monday in this regard, said SSP Traffic Rural, Ravi Kant Sharma.
He said the issue of encroachments has been taken up by the department with the district administrations of Kathua and Samba and from Monday the Traffic Police will launch a drive to remove them.
The improper maintenance of NH is also another cause of concern that leads to frequent accidents in it. About 1.5 km strip of Highway at old Devika bridge near Vijaypur is in dilapidated condition and no attention is being paid by the NH authorities to repair it despite protests by the people.
Earlier, about 500 meters of Highway was damaged near SIDCO Chowk Samba and it was only due to police-public cooperation that this portion was restored on voluntary basis.
Besides the NH has deep ditches at various places and due to high speed of vehicles coming from various parts of the country a smallest negligence can result into a fatal accident. Instead of restoring these ditches the National Highway authorities are looking as a mute spectator, said Raj Kumar a trader of Vijaypur.
The safety barriers on NH right from Lakhanpur to Vijaypur are broken at various places. Besides, the service lanes meant for parking of buses and other vehicles plying on NH have been encroached by hawkers, dhaba owners, workshops and other traders with authorities paying no attention to it. This is the main cause that the drivers plying on Highway park their vehicles on road side that too leads to road accidents. Moreover, the local transport coming from different areas have to take the by lanes for coming to NH which they mostly ignore, said Ram Kumar a resident of Hiranagar.
Accusing the authorities of increasing traffic accidents on NH, Rajiv Jasrotia, MLA Kathua said that nakas have been laid at various places by the Traffic department to check the vehicles plying from Lakhanpur to Satwari. Once a vehicle is being fully checked at Lakhanpur on its entry to the State what is the fun of frequent checks by Traffic police and RTO etc at different places. The threat of being challaned by the police the drivers park their vehicles on Highway and this too results into congestion and impedes the free movement of vehicular traffic, he added.
Moreover, the authorities are also responsible for encroachments of service lanes on NH as they close the eyes and the encroachments continue with impunity, he said.
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