Vehicle’s permit expired in Aug 2017, ‘fitness’ given 140 days ago
Guv expresses grief, announces Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia
Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/ JAMMU, June 27: Nine young girls were among 11 persons killed and seven others seriously injured, when an over- loaded Tempo-Traveller vehicle, carrying picnic party from Surankote in district Poonch to Pir Ki Gali Mughal Sarai on Pir Panchal, skidded into nearly 400 feet deep gorge on Mughal Road today.
All the victims belonged to a local computer centre at Surankote town, being run under Pardhan Mantri’s Skill Development Programme. They along with their instructor had left Surankote at around 9.30 am today and met with this tragic accident at around 12.45 pm, at Lal Ghulam, just 4 kms ahead of Pir Ki Gali, falling in Shopian district. The speeding vehicle was moving towards Heerpur Wild Life Sanctuary, which was hardly a few kilometers away. From there, they had to stop at Pir Ki Gali Sarai.
An eyewitness among the injured said that vehicle was over speeding and the driver tried to save a bike rider coming from the other side and lost control over the vehicle. After this, she heard only cries of the girls and did not know what happened next. She could regain consciousness only on hospital bed, she narrated.
Interestingly, as per on line record of the State Transport authorities, the permit of this old tempo traveller bearing registration number JK12-3475, expired in August 2017. The Regional Transport authorities Jammu had issued fitness certificate in favour of the vehicle 140 days ago, which totally exposes the sorry state of affairs in the State Transport Department. Moreover, this vehicle having capacity of 11 passengers and one driver, was carrying 18 persons. This over loaded vehicle crossed three police nakas including one of the Traffic Police between Surankote and Pir Ki Gali but the officials en-route, took no cognizance of the matter. The tyres of this vehicle, were almost plain with no grip and even then nobody took note of it.
Initially, some nomads grazing their cattle down into the mountain near nullah, noticed the vehicle coming down the mountain and rushed towards the site for the rescue. They found bodies of the victims with semi- torn clothes with blood all around and scattered parts of vehicle all over amidst bounders into the gorge.
The Police and Army men from Pir Ki Gali post along with vehicles also rushed there. The vehicles moving on Mughal Road stopped there after coming to know about the mishap. It took long time to the rescue team to reach up to the victims and lift them to the road. They first lifted the seriously injured to the road using ropes with the help of nomads.
Police party from Shopian and Surankote also reached the spot after some time. Seven seriously injured were shifted to District Hospital, Shopian. Later, 11 dead bodies were also lifted from the deep gorge up to the road, using a long route being often used by the nomads as it was steep mountain down the road.
The deceased were identified as Nayeema Jan- 25 yrs, daughter of Riyaz Ahmad of Faisalabad; Tabassum- 23, daughter of Mohammad Rafiq of Faisalabad; Shereena Fatima- 24, daughter of Zaman Ahmad of Lathoon; Suhail Ahmad- 20, son of Zubair Ahmad of Gunthal; Irfana Kouser- 23 of Darbah; Humaira Kazmi- 25 of Dundak; Rehmat Bi- 23 of Dundak, Jameel Ahmad- 24 of Mandil, Najma- 20 of Lassana; Shabnum- 22, daughter of Hidayat Ahmad of Gunthal and Rabia- 20, daughter of Mukhtar Ahmad hailing from Gunthal village in Surankote.
The dead bodies were handed over to the next of the kin after performing medico- legal formalities by team of doctors and police.
The injured include six students and driver of the vehicle. The driver has been identified as Jameel Ahmad- 21, son of Abdul Rehim of Surankote. The injured students were, Aliya- 20, daughter of Mohammad Iqbal of Surankote; Tabassum-21, daughter of Bashir Ahmad from Surankote, Sonya- 22, daughter of Mohammad Rafiq of Faisalabad; Tazeem Akhtar- 25, daughter of Abdul Rashid; Mehrun Nisa- 20 and Afsana Javed- 24. All the injured were referred to SMHS hospital in Srinagar from Shopian where condition of two of them was stated to be critical.
There was a pall of gloom at Surankote town as the dead bodies reached there late this evening. A large number of relatives, neighbourers and villagers had assembled near Hospital at Surankote to receive the dead bodies. The last rites of these young students will be performed tomorrow morning. They all were in tears as the ambulances with dead bodies reached the town.
Meanwhile, Governor Satya Pal Malik expressed grief over the loss of lives in a road mishap.
In a condolence message, the Governor conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls. He announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has also expressed deep shock over the road tragedy at Peer Ki Gali in which several precious lives have been lost.
In a condolence message, Azad expressed deep shock over the loss of precious lives which include nine girl students. He conveyed deep sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls. He also expressed sympathies with those injured and sought best medical treatment to the injured.
Former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti also expressed grief over the loss of lives in a tragic road accident in Shopian district.
She conveyed her sympathy to the families of the deceased passengers and also expressed serious concern over the recurring road accidents in the mountainous regions of the State and demanded that the Government must review the causes of the recurring fatal accidents and take measures to save the precious lives on priority. Mehbooba also urged the Governor’s Administration to provide best medical treatment to the injured in the accident and wished speedy recovery to them.
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