AIJMS President seeks probe into rising road accidents in Jammu region

DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
JAMMU, Nov 17
Ch Manmohan Singh, President of the All India Jat Maha Sabha (AIJMS), Jammu and Kashmir and a former Mayor of Jammu, has expressed deep concern over the rising number of road accidents in the Union Territory. He has urged the government to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the root causes of these accidents and take immediate measures to curb them. In this regard, a meeting of the Jat Maha Sabha held in Jammu in which the participants observed a two-minute silence to pay homage to those who lost their lives in the recent Assar accident in Doda district.
Notably, 39 persons killed and 17 were injured in the road mishap in Assar area of district Doda on October 15, 2023. He drew attention to several major accidents that had occurred in the past. On July 1, 2019, 35 persons lost their lives and 17 were injured in Kishtwar’s Sirgwari area due to an overloaded mini-bus veering off the road. On May 30, 2023, 10 Vaishno Devi pilgrims from Bihar were killed and 57 injured in Jammu district as their bus skidded off the road. Ch Manmohan Singh pointed out that Kishtwar and Doda districts have become accident-prone zones, with a disturbingly high number of fatalities in recent months. He criticized the Transport Department and Traffic Police for failing to take effective measures to prevent overloading and overspeeding, which are major contributors to road accidents.
Ch Manmohan Singh further underscored the poor condition of roads in Kishtwar and Doda districts as a major contributing factor to the rising incidence of road accidents. He emphasized the urgent need for the government to prioritize road infrastructure development in these districts. He also urged the government to launch an awareness campaign to educate drivers about traffic rules and regulations. He also called for stricter enforcement of traffic rules and penalties for violators. “The government must take immediate action to address this pressing issue,” he said, adding “We cannot afford to lose more lives to preventable road accidents. The safety of our people is paramount.” Ch Manmohan Singh also expressed his concern over the ineffectiveness of the committees constituted by the government in the past to address the issue of road accidents. He said that several committees have been constituted by the government in the past whenever such incidents occur but after passage of time nothing has been done to address this serious issue.
He urged the government to take concrete measures to bring down the number of road accidents in the Union Territory.