Maintain Roads, Implement Laws To Curb Accidents

Karam Singh Thakur

(The writer is based in Sundernagar, Mandi)

Roads are considered to be major arteries and veins for transportation from one place to another as other transport modes like air and railway are negligible in the hill state. This is the reason why Himachal Road Transport Corporation is playing a leading role in transportation world here. Himachal has travelled a tardy journey from a state of negligible road connectivity to 36,256 kilometres wide strong road network by December 2016. Being a hill state, roads construction no doubt is a challenging task. But to maintain roads in good condition after construction is responsibility of elected state government.

Since there is no other mode of transportation, roads have to bear extra burden in the state. According to figures, HRTC on daily basis operates bus services on 2530 routes of 5.54 lakh kilometres distance. Besides this private buses, goods transportation and private vehicles further adds to roads congestion. There were a total of 11.76 lakh vehicles registered in the state till March 31, 2016 including 9.14 lakh commercial vehicle and 2.62 private vehicle. This figure is on continuous rise and the condition of roads is deteriorating with each passing day. This is one of the reason that road accidents figures has witnessed a phenomenal jump in recent times.

The unbridled traffic system is inviting accidents and today’s young generation seldom follows any traffic rule. The government and administration have failed to devise solution to put a curb on increasing road accidents. The department spends lakhs of rupees on maintenance of roads and drainage system at least on paper. But the inclination of extending favours to few contractors is hurting upkeep of roads. Standards in roads constructions are compromised to reap maximum profit by contractors in collusion with few corrupt people.

According to figures, Himachali roads on an average are claiming three lives daily. About 3,000 road accidents are reported every year in serpentine roads of Himachal. The major reasons found behind these road accidents are poor roads, unbridled traffic system, speeding vehicles, lack of departmental system to check untrained drivers monitoring, lack of stringent punishment to violators and lack in check on poor health vehicles. The government machinery comes into action only after some serious incident.

The government and administration will have to set strict norms and will also have to create awareness among masses to reduce the road accidents figure. Serious decline in road accidents can be ensured only by maintaining the quality of roads and the awareness and alertness of traffic police can further amplify this effect. Better road network will also help in strengthening tourist influx in the state.

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