Gwalior Chamber of Commerce has sent letters to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) expressing concern over the spurt in accidents on the National and State Highways.
A couple of days back Prashant Gangawal, the Joint President of the Gwalior Chamber of Commerce and his wife had met with a tragic accident on the Indore Gwalior State Highway, near Rajgarh when their car hit a parked truck around midnight, killing his 47 year old wife on the spot. Gangawal himself is in the hospital in a critical condition. According to sources, Gangawal who was driving the Innova car did not see the parked truck in time and resulted in the crash.
The letters by the Chamber officials state that parking on the Highways, especially that of heavy vehicles like trucks and buses poses a great risk for other road users. They alleged that the truck drivers park their vehicles when and where they choose, sometimes even without the parking lights making it difficult for other drivers to see and avert danger in time.
The officials appealed to the minister and the NHAI Chairman to totally ban parking on Highways. They added that the responsibility for enforcing this ban must be given to the Highway Patrol.
The letters further demand that broken down trucks and buses must be immediately removed from the highways and that the responsibility for this must be given to the Toll Plaza managements.
The chamber officials also alleged that the backside lights, especially the parking lights of most of the trucks are not functional, posing a great danger to other drivers during night time, and asked the minister and the chairman to instruct the police to make sure that trucks without proper lights are not allowed on roads. They added that the majority of the heavy vehicles ply with the high beam lights on, and this too is a cause for road accidents. They demanded that there must be a complete ban on high beam lights throughout the country.