A day after one of the biggest and most tragic road accidents in the Chenab region of Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Territory administration set up a three-member panel to enquire into the circumstances leading to the accident which resulted in the loss of precious human lives with injuries to several other passengers.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Wednesday's road accident in the Doda district on the Batote-Kishtwar national highway climbed to 39 on Thursday.
The Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Ramesh Kumar ordered a constitution of a three-member panel to probe into the circumstances leading to the accident in which 39 people were killed.
Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar issued an order stating, "As communicated by the Deputy Commissioner, Doda, on Wednesday an ill-fated bus JK02CN 6555 on its way from Kishtwar towards Jammu met with a fatal accident and fell in the deep gorge at Assar in Doda district, resulting in the death of several passengers and injuries to others on board.
He said it was imperative to inquire into the circumstances leading to the accident which resulted in loss of precious human lives with injuries to several other passengers.
Three officers Ravi Kumar Bharti, ADM, Doda, Superintending Engineer PWD, Doda, and ARTO, Doda, would be the members of the committee who would enquire into the circumstances leading to the accident.
The committee would inquire into the incident and furnish a detailed inquiry report to this office within a week.
Second panel constituted by J&K Govt to control deaths on Chenab region's 'killer' roads
The panel constituted by the UT administration was the second committee constituted by the J&K government this year to control deaths on the roads.
In February this year, the government had constituted a four-member high-powered committee to suggest measures for making the Batote-Doda-Kishtwar road accident-free.
According to an order GAD-ADMOIV/21/2023-09-GAD dated: 20.02.2023 issued by Sanjeev Verma Commissioner- Secretary General Administration Department (GAD) a committee has been constituted for suggesting measures for making Batote-Doda-Kishtwar Road accident-free.
"Sanction is hereby accorded to the constitution of a Committee, comprising the following, for ascertaining the reasons for increasing cases of road accidents in the hilly terrain of Chenab Valley on Batote-Doda-Kishtwar Road and suggesting measures for making the road accident-free", the order reads.
The Committee has been constituted in compliance with the directions of the High Court. The engineer in the Chief (Secretary Technical, Public Works (R&B) Department will be the Chairman of the committee. Other members of the Committee included the Secretary, Road Safety Council, Executive Director (P) NHIDCL, Jammu Office, and Superintending Engineer PW(R&B) Circle Doda. Senior Superintending of Police, (Traffic) Rural, Jammu.
High Court earlier directed Govt to establish an expert committee
On December 20, 2022, Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Rajesh Sekhri of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court's division bench directed the UT Government to form a Committee of experts to investigate the causes of repeated road accidents on the Batote-Doda-Kishtwar Road in the Chenab Valley region and to recommend measures to eliminate road accidents.
The Court has also ordered the government to install rolling barriers/steel pillars on curved roads and wherever culverts are discovered, and to file an Action Taken Report (ATR) by the next scheduled hearing date.
On December 17, 2022, a social activist Asif Iqbal Butt of Kahara in Doda district wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of J&K and Ladakh High Court requesting for taking suo-moto cognizance of increasing road accidents in the hilly terrain of Chenab Valley.
"Since the roads in the upper reaches are narrow and have a number of blind curves, the installation of rolling barriers is essential for alleviating the severity of the accidents", the letter said, adding "setting a robust road infrastructure, implementing the recommendations for road safety and ensuring strict compliance with the traffic rules are the need of the hour".
Accidents on the roads of the mountainous Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban districts of Jammu and Kashmir, known as the Chenab region, have become a routine affair. There is hardly any day when someone doesn't die or get hurt in some traffic accident in the region.
The roads in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the Chenab region have become death traps. According to the Union Ministry of Road, Transport, and Highways, Jammu and Kashmir rank second across India in the number of road accidents per 10,000 vehicles with an average of over 900 deaths every year in the last five years.
10 women among 39 killed in Doda accident on Wednesday
In a tragic road accident, 39 people were killed while 17 others were injured when an ill-fated bus, in which they were travelling, fell into a deep gorge allegedly due to rash and negligent driving in the mountainous Doda district on Wednesday.
The accident took place at Trangul near Assar in Doda and is one of the bloodiest mishaps that took place across the country claiming a large number of innocent lives.
Recent road accidents in Jammu region
- On September 14, 2018, 17 passengers were killed and 16 injured when a mini-bus skidded off the road and plunged into a gorge in the Dandaran area of Kishtwar district.
- 21 people were killed and 15 injured when an overcrowded mini-bus fell into a gorge on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, near Kela Morh, in Ramban district on October 6, 2018.
- On July 1, 2019, 35 people were killed and 17 injured when an overloaded mini-bus veered off the road and fell into a gorge in Kishtwar's Sirgwari area.
- On September 14, 2022, 11 people, including four women, died and 29 were injured when an overcrowded mini-bus plunged into a gorge in Poonch district.
- On May 30, 2023, 10 Vaishno Devi pilgrims, most of them from Bihar, were killed and 57 injured as their bus skidded off the road and rammed into the railing of a bridge, before falling off it at Jhajjar Kotli in Jammu district.
- On May 24 this year, seven people were killed and three injured after a cruiser vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at the Dangduru dam site in the Dachhan area of Kishtwar.
- Eight people were killed and three seriously injured when their car skidded off the road and plunged into a 300-foot gorge in Kishtwar on August 30.
- On June 27, five people were killed and 12 injured when their vehicle fell into a gorge on the Bhadarweh-Pathankot road in Doda.
- Four people, including women, were killed and five injured after a car fell into a roadside gorge at Thannamandi in Rajouri district.
- Six people were killed in road accidents in Doda on October 8 and October 20.
- On November 6, three people were killed and at least 16 injured in a road accident in the Rehan area of Rajouri district.
