*Fixes deadlines for implementation of vital directions
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 14: Expressing serious concern over non-serious approach of several departments towards issues relating to road safety in the State, Governor N N Vohra today fixed deadlines for implementation of road safety framework in letter and spirit in order to bring down the fatal road accidents, which claim around 1000 lives every year in Jammu and Kashmir.
He also issued directions for introduction of traffic awareness as subject in school curriculum in order to sensitize the students about road safety and asked the School Education Department to work out modalities in this regard at the earliest so that process is set into motion from next academic session.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that while chairing specially convened meeting at Civil Secretariat, Governor expressed anguish over several departments not taking requisite steps to ensure road safety and check fatal accidents, which otherwise are on rise in the State.
“The initiatives to check fatal road accidents should not remain confined in the official files and heads of all the concerned departments must ensure results of such initiatives on ground otherwise we would not be doing justice with our duties”, sources said quoting observations made by the Governor in the meeting.
He noted with anguish that only two meetings of J&K State Road Safety Council have been held during the past three years despite the fact that Council should mandatorily meet at least once in a year. “The meeting of the J&K State Road Safety Council was held when it was setup in 2012, and, thereafter, no meeting was held for the next 3 years, till I enquired in the matter few days back”, Governor said.
It is pertinent to mention here that EXCELSIOR exclusively carried a news-item in edition dated February 13 mentioning that administrative inertia has rendered the J&K Road Safety Council as ‘useless’ body and District Road Safety Committees have started functioning only after Raj Bhawan sought reports about the decisions taken and implemented by such committees.
While referring to this issue, Governor directed that J&K Road Safety Council should meet in every quarter to review the implementation of decisions taken in the previous meetings and make necessary directions to the concerned departments. Similarly, he directed Divisional Commissioners to ensure that meetings of the District Road Safety Committees are held on monthly basis.
“Deputy Commissioners, who are the heads of such committees, were directed to launch an urgent campaign to remove all encroachments along all the highways and ensure that the provisions of Ribbon Development Act are stringently enforced”, sources said.
Expressing concern over non-adherence to the decision of first J&K Road Safety Council meeting in letter and spirit, Governor said, “it is not expected from the concerned authorities to delay installation of crash barriers at the accident prone spots identified by the Traffic Police as three years is more than enough time required to carry out this vital task”.
The concern of Governor in this regard was genuine as it was informed in the meeting that crash barriers had been installed at 70% of the accident prone spots identified by the Traffic Police. The Governor directed that the 30% crash barriers should be installed by March 31 and the Home and Finance Secretaries should take immediate action to decide the pending proposals for augmenting the strength of Traffic Police and the Transport Department, after urgent rationalisation of deployment of existing manpower.
It is pertinent to mention here that several accident prone areas like stretch of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway from Ramban to Ramsoo still lack crash barriers and this results into many fatal accidents.
Governor also directed National Highway Authority of India and Beacon to deploy more critical care ambulances on the roads under their respective control and display contact numbers of the drivers at prominent places for the convenience of commuters.
“Mr Vohra also expressed anguish over Trauma Care Centres on the highways not serving the intended purpose and patients particularly accident victims still being referred to capital cities”, sources said, adding “he was apprised that out of 10 Trauma Care Centres only five have been completed and these centres too lack some vital machinery”.
He fixed deadline of June 30, 2015 for the Health Department to make fully operational all the Trauma Care Centres and the Critical Care Ambulances. “If funds are any constraint, a proposal be submitted to Raj Bhawan so that Union Ministry is approached for necessary assistance”, sources said quoting Governor’s direction.
About setting up of Specialized Certification and Inspection Centres and Driving Schools in Jammu and Srinagar, he noted with concern very little progress in this regard and directed the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir to identify land by month end. The Divisional Commissioner Jammu was directed to conduct joint inspection of identified land with Transport Department so that proposals could be furnished to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways by March 15.
The Governor directed that with immediate effect it will be mandatory for all new road projects to be necessarily vetted by the Design Directorate so as to ensure that the road safety features are duly incorporated in the road architecture. He also directed that, side by side, the safety audit of the existing roads should be carried out in a time bound manner.
He further directed that every enforcement agency should sternly deal with all cases of overloading and other traffic violations and no unfit vehicle should be allowed to ply on the roads under any circumstances.
Secretary Transport Department was directed to take immediate steps for the application of Information Technology to minimise human interface and reduce scope for corruption; make operational online services including online applications, registrations and payments for various services by April 1 and implement Road Accident Data Management System and GPS Tracking and Analysis in all public service vehicles by May 31.
Laying special emphasis on active involvement of all stakeholders in creating awareness about Road Safety, the Governor directed that campaigns for advancing awareness about Road Safety should be conducted every month by involving NCC, NSS, Home Guards, Scouts & Guides and volunteers from all possible sectors.
The Governor asked IGP Traffic and DGP to enforce stringent measures to check overloading of transport vehicles, check over speeding and carry out a complete verification of all those who drive buses and trucks on the accident prone roads to particularly assess whether they are trained to ply vehicles in hilly areas.
The Governor asked the Chief Secretary to set apart at least 50% of the amounts recovered as fines and penalties so that such a resource can be utilized to urgently meet the pressing requirements of the Traffic Police and Transport Department.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Administrative Secretaries of Planning and Development, Finance, Home, Transport, PWD (R&B), Health & Medical Education, Housing and Urban Development Departments, Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu, IG Traffic, Chief Engineer, Project Beacon, Project Director National Highways Authority of India, Jammu and other concerned officers.
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