Road accidents cost lives of 1000 people during 2011

Road accidents cost lives of 1000 people during 2011 Nitesh Sangral
JAMMU, Apr 08: Nearly 1000 persons lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir during 2011 in 6,000 road accidents across the state. Official figures reveal that in Jammu district alone there were 1344 road mishaps, including 132 fatal and 1212 non-fatal by the end of December 2011 in which 157 persons lost their lives while 1609 others suffered injuries. Comparing it with year 2010, nearly 1042 lives were lost in 6,136 road accidents making the roads as biggest killer of the people in J&K. “Accidents have become a major challenge for the administration, but it itself is responsible for failure to stop them in absence of any major policy. Most of the measures announced by the government have remained on papers only”, said a official. As per the data, up to December last year, the Traffic Police Department had penalized 2, 88,453 vehicles realizing a fine of Rs 6.47 crore. In 2010, a total of 3, 79,000 vehicles were challaned and an amount of Rs 6.44 crore was realized as fine from the violators. Meanwhile the number of registered vehicles in Jammu and Kashmir also went up by 17 per cent in 2011, posing a serious challenge before the Traffic Police which had been facing the shortage of manpower. In 2009, the number of registered vehicles stood at 7.37 lakh which went up to 8.10 lakh in 2010. The figure is likely to cross 10 lakh mark by the end of this year, which has become a worst nightmare for the planners. In addition, 10-12 lakh vehicles, including buses of Vaishno Devi pilgrims, tourists and Amarnath pilgrims entered Jammu and Kashmir from other parts of the country during last year. “As far as traffic mess is concerned, floating vehicles contribute much to the chaos on the roads as thousands of busses and cars daily cross Lakhanpur mainly filled with pilgrims”, said a official. Officials sources said that with management of rising vehicles becoming a challenge for the administration in rapidly growing urban centers of Jammu and Kashmir, government will soon implement the recommendation of a report prepared under Comprehensive City Transport Policy under which scientific management of the vehicles has been proposed. Sources said that some private consultants are being hired by the Transport Department to do a detailed study of traffic pattern, road use and ways to deal with the jams at peak hours.