Inking the truth | Shivang Satya Gupta | Editor-in-Chief
The repeated snubs by the Raj Bhawan and hoarse cries of the common man have failed to wake up the insensitive administration to check the rampant fatal accidents by framing a strict traffic policy and regular checks on speed and licenses of the drivers even as the killer machines continue to let loose a reign of terror on Jammu-Doda and Jammu-Kathua-Delhi roads resulting in numerous deaths every year. While the fatal accidents on Jammu-Doda roads is attributed to over speeding, over loading and rampant corruption by traffic cops the high speed killing machines running on Jammu-Kathua-Delhi highway is totally due to callous attitude of the administration that looks the other way even as the illegal private bus operators and other vehicles make hay while the corrupt Sun of administrations shines over them. The repeated fatal accidents that have consumed numerous prestigious lives of the people have not been able to jolt the babus at the helm notwithstanding the fact that driving a vehicle or walking on the footpaths of the national highway has become a dangerous death trap for the people living on national highway from Jammu to Lakhanpur. The school children and the school buses are more vulnerable as scores of students move on the highway in morning and evening hours and it has become impossible for the parents to manage their wards who are at the risk of being hit anytime by any vehicle. The ruthlessness of the drivers’ particularly of trucks, Buses and cars can be gauged from the fact that whenever any accident takes place the brutality of the accident scene depicts the speeds at which the vehicles might be running at the time of the accident. Since the highway crosses three districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua it is easier for the administrators to pass on the buck and shift the blame to each other but the million dollar question is where is the traffic police or the divisional administration which can order the respective district administration to check the over speeding exactly as their cops check the overloaded trucks only to extract their own pound of flesh. The problem with the state is that our officials who are supposed to protect the rule of law are the first ones to break it as they are more interested in filling their pockets through gratification than upholding the law by performing their designated duties. It is time that a dedicated highway patrol is constituted to check the menace of over speeding and traffic rule violations by the vehicle drivers particularly big ones besides creating adequate zebra crossings for the local public on the highway. However mere constitution of a highway patrol and zebra crossings would be rendered useless if the administration does not show seriousness to ensure that these regulations are implemented in letter and spirit for which speed cameras and public compliant cells can be created on the way so that if a vehicle driver or a cop on duty fails to abide by the law the common man can register his complaint instantly. The good governance does not come only through development and creating infrastructure but by providing a smooth life to the public.
