Another major road accident follows usual formalities as road safety norms dogs Uttarakhand with 36 killed, 24 injured in Ramnagar mishap

Another major road accident follows usual formalities as road safety norms dogs Uttarakhand with 36 killed, 24 injured in Ramnagar mishap

S.M.A.KAZMI / B.D.Kasniyal

Dehradun / Pithoragarh

The tragic road accident in which 36 bus passengers were killed and 24 other injured on November at Kupi on the Pauri Garhwal-Ramnagar road has again brought to the fore the most pertinent question of road safety in the hill state of Uttarakhand which has dogged the state since it’s inception. Same old questions are being asked about rickety overloaded buses on single lane road bruised badly by the long monsoon period and the official response has also been the same in the shape of condolences to the bereaved, compensation to the deceased, suspension of officials and institution of magisterial enquiry in the accident. Nothing less, nothing more. This pattern has followed since the state has been carved out in November, 2000.

Interestingly, on an average 200 people are murdered in the Uttarakhand every year, whereas five times more about 1000 people on the an average die in road accidents in the state each year.

On an average, one person gets killed in the hill state every eight hours. More than 5000 persons have lost their lives in road accidents in the past five years and much more injured..

The ratio of fatality in Uttarakhand as compared with the national fatality ratio is just the double. While the fatality ratio is 30 percent at the All India level, it is nearly 57 per cent in Uttarakhand. This could be attributed to several factors including the tough geographical terrain.

Safety records of Uttarakhand buses had remained dismal as  particularly during ‘Char Dham yatra’ season, which coincides with monsoon season..

Drunken driving, over crowding in the buses and other four wheelers particularly by the pilgrims to ‘Char Dham’ yatra  and Hemkund Sahib in Garhwal, rash driving and lack of repairs of the old state transport buses are some of the major reasons for the reoccurrence of  such frequent road accidents.  A tendency amongst the transporters to make maximum money by making maximum number of trips to ‘Char Dhams’ has also led to frequent accidents. Magisterial inquiries are announced but the fate of such initiatives had remained unknown.

The Union Surface Transport Minister had sent a team of experts from Save Life Foundation to suggest measures to reduce the fatal road accidents in the state. Despite, such reports and suggestions, magisterial enquiries after each major accidents, the entire administrative machinery of Uttarakhand had remained callous in meeting this challenge. There is a rat race amongst the transporters ferrying more and more pilgrims during the “Char Dham Yatra” season to make money. The record shows that most of the larger luxury buses coming from outside the state are not built for narrow hill roads and majority of those driving these buses have no experience of hill driving. Most of the drivers driving during Yatra Season are tired and fatigued. A study has shown that 40 per cent of the road accidents are caused by fatigued drivers.

Moreover, drunken driving in the hills is another reason of fatal road accidents. Scientific studies have shown that even a small of alcohol could impairs driver’s reaction time and judgement particularly on hill roads where a split second error could be fatal. It has been found that a driver with alcohol consumption is twice likely to meet with an accident than a sober driver.

There has not been any checking or restriction for drivers plying on Char Dham Yatra routes or other hill roads. The police, transport officials are hand in glove with transporters. Moreover, the state governments are also turning a blind eye to the safety norms for the fear of being labelled as putting impediments in the religious ‘Yatra’.

One of the major reasons for road accidents in the state is the increasing traffic pressure on the roads. At the time of formation of Uttarakhand, the number of vehicles was about 4 lakhs, which has increased 9 times to 36 lakhs presently. The roads have not widened or improved as per the needs of the increased number of motor vehicles. Drunken driving, over speeding and overloading are major reasons for road accidents.

It has been reported that more than 60 passengers were travelling in the ill fated bus having a capacity of maximum forty passengers which met with an accident at Kupi near Ramnagar on November 4, 2024.

Old modelled, technically unfit and over loaded bus plying on single lane hilly road which was in bad shape after monsoon rains from Pauri to Ramnagar unchecked, has been attributed as the reason behind the accident. Breaking of every  traffic rule has become rampant with some enjoying breaking traffic rules resulting in fatal accidents in the state.

An analysis of the statistics of road accidents in the state, indicate that the nature of road accidents are different in the plain and hilly parts of the state. In plain areas, where two-wheeler accidents are more frequent, larger vehicles are more prone to accidents in mountainous areas. There was a need to make different strategies for the hills and plain areas to prevent road accidents. Despite having rules, regulations and policies to prevent road accidents, these are not being uniformly implemented due to lack of coordination between various responsible agencies.

In capital city of Dehradun, there has been absolute chaos on the roads during the ongoing festival season. Frequent traffic jams are seen on all major roads in the capital city as traffic management has gone for a toss.

Tragically, most of the working people are dying in road accidents in Uttarakhand. In an analysis of the statistics of deaths and injuries of working age people in road accidents, it has been found that Uttarakhand has the highest disability-adjusted life years across the entire country.

According to a report of the United Nations, more than 5 lakh road traffic accidents are taking place in India, in which about one third of the people are dying and almost 3 Lakh are suffering from some kind of disability every year forcing them to struggle for rest of their life with the residual deformity. More than 50 percent of those who die in accidents are people aged between 15 to 35 years, who are the future of the country.

Ayush Dhyani, who escaped death and was injured slightly in the latest accident, said that the driver of bus was letting in every passenger who was stopping the bus on way. “Even on 14 km long way from Gaulikhal to Kupi, the driver stopped the bus at 12 times despite it was already over crowed,”said Ayush, a student of polytechnic at Salt

The transport department team that reached the spot, attributed the accident to breaking of spring belt due to over loading on the bus. The road had no parapet that would  have stopped the fall of the bus pointing towards bad road conditions.

though for while “said a transport department team member.

“Had the Uttarakhand government learnt lessons from the Dhoomakot accident in 2018  in which 48 passengers died and appointed Road Transport Officials (RTO)s  in all 109 sub divisions, the traffic system in the hill region would have been better,” observed Shekhar Dwivedi, a journalist based in Almora.

Meanwhile, an First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged with Almora police at Thana Bharochkhan police  station against driver, conductor and owner of vehicle (No UK 12 PA 0061)  that fell in 200 meters deep ditch on November 4, 2024, killing 36 passengers on board.

“The case has been lodged under BNS sections 281,125 A,125B,106A and 61 BNS, with police and investigation is on,” said Devendra Phincha, SSP, Almora