Menace on Roads

Look beyond ceremonial meetings
Yet another road mishap and yet another ceremonial meeting. This is what has become order of the day in this mountainous region of the state, where human lives does not seems to be any matter of concern for the people at the helm of affairs. While the last Friday once again left Kishtwar and its adjoining areas in a palm of gloom in view of the tragic road mishap which claimed around two dozen lives, the incident has once again brought highlighted the fact that the authorities are only doing lip service beside some paper work in the name of minimizing unfortunate deaths on Killer roads of the state.
The rampant menace of road mishaps is claiming previous lives by every passing day but the politicians, bureaucracy and police is only busy in holding meetings, which only seems to be measures for rubbing salt on the wounds of those who are left behind to suffer. Jammu and Kashmir is known for the killer roads and the number of those killed on roads has now even exceeded against the number of militancy related causalities in the state. As many as 1100 people were killed and 8199 persons were injured in 5945 road accidents last year in Jammu and Kashmir, while 398 people were killed and over 300 injured in 1251 militancy-related incidents. As compared to 2009, 950 people were killed and 7597 were injured in 5236 road mishaps in 2008. Of 1100 people killed in road accidents in 2009, 781 died and 5149 were injured in 3869 road accidents in Jammu region while 319 people died and 3050 were injured in 2076 accidents in Kashmir region. Mountainous Chenab region tops the list. Every road mishap leads to fatal causalities due to topography and every mishap leaves behind trail of miseries, sufferings and pain. The Disaster Management and Quick Action Team proposed by the government to be set up in this remote areas have become thing of past as the proposal failed to take off due to the callous approach of the concerned authorities. The medical services are nominal and police is ill equipped to meet emergency situations. The Transport Department and Traffic Police is busy in passing the bucks on each other. Drivers and matador operators are risking thousands of lives every day, while the number of passenger vehicles on the road is also decreasing. The authorities need to take the menace more seriously and take some concrete measures so that the precious lives are saved. The government has to look beyond ceremonial meetings and condolence messages not at the time of the mishap but even thereafter.