The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Secretary and the Odisha DGP over the death of students on dangerous roads in Bhadrak district of the State.
The NHRC passed the order acting on a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer and social activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
In his petition Tripathy alleged that due to the negligence and failure of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and State officials seven school students have already died and several others suffered critical injuries in road accidents in the district.
On September 10, 2019 two minors were killed in a road accident on National Highway16 near New Bus Stand in Bhadrak town. The students were on their way to school on their cycles. They were hit by a car that fled from the scene after hitting the boys. The deceased were identified as Class VIII student Sumit Sahoo and Class X student Subhankar Mallick, stated Tripathy.
On July 19, 2018, as many as five students were killed while four others suffered critical injuries when they were run over by a truck near Rahanja on NH-16. The incident occurred at around 4 pm when the students were returning from school.
As the school is located close to the NH, the students used to cross the busy junction by risking their lives daily. Four girl students were killed on the spot while another student died while undergoing treatment at hospital, he pointed out.
Neither there is any proper signage nor there regular check of over speeding near the school. To make matters worse, inadequate traffic personnel and lack of infrastructure is another reason behind the increasing number of road mishaps, alleged Tripathy.