Road accidents

Sir,

Traffic density in increasing in the State. Every day newer vehicles are added to the already choked road space. The situation on the roads has turned into a nightmare of sorts. The roads are changing into killing fields.

Every day there are accidents. People either loose their life or are injured. The situation is alarming with more traffic the chances of road accidents is on the increase. We have to develop a strategy so that rate of accidents are brought down. It is not possible to bring accidents to a zero level but the authorities have to take steps to ensure that accidents are brought down to bare minimum.

First of all the authorities need to have a multipronged strategy in place. Traffic rules have to be strictly adhered to. Those who break traffic rules have to the severely punished. The deterrence has to be strong. What we see is that people after violating traffic rules escape scot free. There should be a large presence of traffic police on the roads. At least on a given day there should be atleast ten mobile traffic jeeps enforcing and monitoring traffic flow.

Recently five people were killed in road accidents (DE, Mar 7) in a single day. National Highway right from Lakhanpur to Srinagar has become too dangerous. Here overspeeding and overtaking is one of the biggest head aches. We have to see about the ways that are help full in controlling these sad incidents. Civil society has a role to play. People who drive any type of vehicles have to be cautious and abide by traffic rules.

Yours etc...
Sat Pal
Bari Brahmna
Jammu

Improve transporation

Sir,

Jammu and Kashmir State is a tourist destination in the country. About 60-70 lakh tourists visit the State every year. Apart from Valley, Mata Vaishno Devi is a pilgrimage for lakhs of pilgrims who visit the place for darshans. The State with its Natural beauty attracts tourists from far off places of the world.

Here one is constrained to mention and it being a general complaint from the people who visit the State that no pre paid Auto/Taxi system is prevalent in Jammu though being a tourist spot. Tourists who come here are being cheated by the Auto/Taxi operators. While in other Metropolitan cities of the country the system is quite fool proof. Here the system needs to be reformed and rebuild to present tourists from being cheated.

We need to take some measures for the welfare of the State and tourists. We have to be tourist friendly. The travel and stay of the tourists in this State should be made comfortable, affordable and safe as far as possible. The State authorities should keep vigil on the Auto/taxi operators so that the system goes well. A message should go for the desirous tourists that the State is still a heaven on the Earth. The same healthy system should work at the airports of the State as well.

Yours etc...
S N Raina
Swaran Vihar
Jammu

Control tempers

Sir,

An incident was reported in this paper (Mar 4) about a doctor being hit on the nose by the attendants of a patient.

This incident prompted me to write a few lines. These days we have seen a general decline in the overall values. We have all lost a great measure of self control and patience. Infact the word patience is getting murkier now. It means nowadays a sign of weakness. The incidents of such kind have happened in the hospitals before. We have to look to the basic causes of these incidents. Here it is pertinent to understand that no body is above law. And when it comes to such incidents which are always sensitive we to be patient and circumspect.

Every patient has a degree of suffering and the attendants have a right to demand attention of doctors. But they have to see the reality also. They have no right to create such scenes which are unruly. Under no circumstances can a hospital doctor be bloodied on the nose. Hospital is not an arena where you have gone to have a TNA fight. The attendants have to see the workload and priority of the doctors. It does not mean that doctors are not at fault. In some cases doctors too are careless and dismiss the attendants or the suffering of the patients in a casual way.

To disallow such incidents to taking place the hospital authorities should help to develop a hospital culture where the please of patients or their attendants are addressed to. The doctors too have to be circumspect. One thing is sure, a hospital is meant to cure people of injuries and not a place where people inflict injuries on each other.

Yours etc...
Manoj Saini
Shaheedi Chowk
Jammu