Form panel to find reasons for frequent road accidents: HC to J&K administration

According to sources, more people die in road accidents than militant violence in J&K. More than 580 people have died and over 5,500 were injured in road accidents till August this year; against 805 dead and 8,372 injured in 2022.

The directions have come in three PILs filed by Intikhab Ahmed Qazi, Asif Iqbal Naik, and Bar Association Doda.

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court in Srinagar on Thursday asked the Union Territory administration to constitute an expert committee to ascertain reasons behind frequent road accidents along the Jammu-Srinagar and Batote-Doda-Kishtwar national highways, besides Mughal Road connecting Jammu province’s Poonch district with Shopian in Kashmir.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), has ordered members of the expert committee to inspect the two national highways and the road concerned, and submit a report on the same by or before the first week of February 2024. The bench has fixed the next hearing on February 13.

According to the High Court, the expert committee will include a professor with expertise in road safety from IIT Jammu, an engineer (to be nominated by) chief engineer of project SAMPARK, an executive engineer (to be nominated by) chief engineer of Jammu’s PW(R&B), and Professor G M Bhat, former head of Geology department of Jammu University, who is also an expert in landslides on national highways. The directions have come in three PILs filed by Intikhab Ahmed Qazi, Asif Iqbal Naik, and Bar Association Doda.

According to sources, more people die in road accidents than militant violence in J&K. More than 580 people have died and over 5,500 were injured in road accidents till August this year; against 805 dead and 8,372 injured in 2022.

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