Jammu and Kashmir Government on Monday 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 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".
Deaths on roads of the Chenab region become a routine affair
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.
