Sir,
It is sad that in an extremely tragic accident a few days ago, 22 people were killed and 48 injured as overloaded bus fell into a gorge at Jyotipuram.The 42 seater bus was carrying 70 passangers and it was not subjected to checking by the concerned authorities such as Police and Traffic Police.The overloaded bus is reported to carry some passangers on the roof top which is a common phenomenon in rural and hilly areas.On 6 th October this year, an overloaded minibus skidded off the road near Barmeen (Udhampur),as a result of which four people including three children were killed and many others including some students of Govt.Hr.Sec.School, Barmeen were injured.When such a mishap occurs,statements expressing grief over the mishap are issued and Police and Traffic Police become active for some days days checking vehicles, two wheelers and imposing fine on the drivers violating the traffic rules under Motor Vehicle Act .After the public outcry subsides, the concerned authorities come to square one.It is a fact that many a time buses and minibuses plying in rural are overloaded, especially at the time of opening and closing of offices/schools.Some people and students are asked to sit on the rooftop to make way for the old and female passangers inside the vehicle.There are hardly any police personnels from the Traffic/Executive Police to punish the erring drivers who drive the vehicles at their own will caring little for the safety/convenience of the passangers.As they see a vehicle coming behind, they resort to overspeeding putting the life of the passangers in danger.There is need for conducting frequent checking of passanger vehicles in rural areas and punishing the drivers for offences such as overloading, overspeeding, drunken driving, driving without driving licence etc.The RTO/ARTO/ and other concerned officers should also be made accountable for the mishaps caused due to the negligent driving or menace of overloading/overspeeding in areas falling in their jurisdiction.The concerned authorities ought to ensure that various provisions of MVAct are implemented in letter and spirit.The government should also ensure that roads in rural areas are macdamized and upgraded so that such unfortunate incidents are prevented.
Yours etc…
Ankita Sharma,
Udhampur.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel