Days after the pilgrimage to Badrinath shrine started, the road repairing work involving the accident- prone stretches has remained incomplete. Taking a stern note of the delay despite the administrative order to complete things well before the start of the pilgrimage, the Chamoli district magistrate Ashish Joshi has instructed the agencies tasked with the work to complete the work in ten days. Earlier, he expressed anger over the delay in the completion of the work involving the accident prone stretches while chairing a meeting of the district level road security committee on Tuesday. He also warned the agencies engaged in the work that in case of any accident happening along the stretches they would have to bear the consequences.
The DM also instructed the sub-divisional magistrate and the Tehsildar to inspect the road repairing works being done by the road construction agencies and to submit monitoring report to him regularly.
Joshi said that if the hot-mixing and patching work is not completed within the stipulated ten days stern action would be taken against the agencies for their laid-back attitude. He stressed on the immediate installation of crash barriers, parapets and reflectors along the mishap-prone stretches to ensure that no accident happens during the pilgrimage season and thereafter. He also said that the boulders precariously hanging along the roads should be removed immediately. Notably, a bike rider was killed when a boulder loosened by rain fell on the road a few days ago. He also warned of action against the road construction agencies in case the roads they are working on are blocked due to landslips.
The meeting was apprised of the fact that 21 road accidents occurred from January to April in Chamoli district in which 14 persons were killed and 26 were injured. Police impounded 32 vehicles for over-speeding and over- loading and 2679 challans were slapped on the riders of two- wheelers for riding without helmets. Besides, ARTO seized five vehicles and slapped challans on 84 vehicles for flouting the rules, the meeting was informed.