A day after 44 people died and 34 others were injured in a tragic road accident in Banjar of Kullu district, Himachal Government on Friday decided to launch a special campaign to identify and rectify the black spots on roads of the state so as to minimize the road accidents. The new roads would be passed after the approval by the road safety auditors.
This was decided in a meeting of senior officers of the state government held here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
Thakur said that the earlier procedure of identifying the black spots would be done away and new mechanism to identify and rectify the black spots would be implemented so that the same could be improved instead of waiting for any untoward incident for it. He said that special focus would be laid on improving rural roads having greater traffic frequency.
The Chief Minister said that special awareness campaign would be launched to sensitize the people regarding over speed, rash driving, drunken driving and use of mobile phones while driving. He said that people would be encouraged to register complaints against the erring drivers. He said that it has been found that 93 percent of accidents occur due to human errors, thus special emphasis would be laid on making driving test more stringent.
Thakur said all transport vehicles including taxis would have to display name with photograph of the driver prominently in the vehicles so that the commuters could know that the driver is well trained and authorized to drive the vehicle.
He said that condition of transport vehicles would be ensured properly and laxity in this regard would not be tolerated at any cost. He said that automatic testing of the condition of vehicle would also be done for ensuring that only vehicles with good conditions are on the road.
The driver licenses for heavy vehicles would be issued only after ensuring proper test of the drivers. He said that a mechanism such as installing biometric system in driving schools will be adopted so that it could be ensured that the trainee actually undergo training for specific period. He said that efforts would also be made to provide automatic driving test facilities in all the districts of the State.
Thakur said authorities should also ensure that there is no overloading in transport vehicles. He said that strict action would be taken against the violators. All the school buses would be regularly monitored and school management would be sensitized about the safety guidelines which is the ultimate objective of the government for the safety the commuters.
Transport Minister Govind Thakur gave valuable suggestions for improving the roads for safe plying of vehicles. Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal, Additional Chief Secretaries Shrikant Baldi, Manoj Kumar and R.D. Dhiman, DGP S.R. Mardi, Director, Transport J.M. Pathania, amongst other officials attended the meeting.
CM INQUIRES WELL BEING OF BANJAR BUS MISHAP VICTIMS
Earlier, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur visited the regional hospital Kullu to enquire the well being of the injured persons of the bus accident that took place near Banjar area of the Kullu district on Thursday evening.
He interacted with all the injured and assured that the state government would provide them best health care facility. He wished them a speedy recovery.
The Chief Minister directed the Chief Medical Officer Kullu and his team to make all necessary arrangements immediately if any more injured is required to be referred to other hospital.
Later on, while interacting with the media persons, Jai Ram Thakur said that it was a tragic incident which has shocked the entire state. He said that 39 dead bodies were brought to Kullu hospital on Thursday evening for postmortem and except for three unidentified dead, the remaining bodies were handed over to their family members. As many as 37 injured were referred to Kullu after first aid at Banjar hospital out of which five persons including a tourist died.
He said that seriously injured eight persons were referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh on Thursday evening only whereas three more persons were referred during the midnight. The district administration has arranged employees to assist the injured referred to Chandigarh. Besides, the doctors of PGIMER, Chandigarh have also been requested for providing best possible treatment to the injured on priority.
The Chief Minister said that the Kullu district administration distributed Rs. 10.35 lakh as immediate relief to the family members of the deceased and injured persons on Thursday night.
He said that magisterial enquiry has been ordered to find out the reasons for this bus accident and the enquiry committee headed by ADM, Kullu would submit its report shortly.
Jai Ram Thakur said that the state government would take more effective steps to check such incidents and stern action would be taken against the bus owners found guilty of overloading.