Converting a letter written by a Ludhiana resident into a public interest litigation (PIL),the Punjab and Haryana High Court Thursday took suo motu notice of the road accident in Jalandhar in which 12 children were killed. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri Thursday issued notices to Punjab on the letter. The letter was written by one Kamaldeep Singh of Ludhiana who had tried to draw the attention of the court to the blood bath on roads of Punjab due to accidents. Our roads can be described as killer roads. We are losing 4,000 people annually due to road accidents and many thousands are getting crippled for life. The total affected people in Punjab will be in excess of five lakh (if we count one family of 50 people including extended members). Even former Punjab finance minister,Capt Kanwaljit Singh,died due to a road accident the letter reads. It further added that the Punjab government has taken no action in this regard. Talking about the Jalandhar road accident,the letter states the innocent children. boarded the buses which are death traps. The school managements,transporters,transport secretary,DTOs are culprits for not implementing the road safety guidelines set by courts. He demanded that accountability be fixed and exemplary punishment meted out to those responsible for such accidents. It has also been demanded a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder should be slapped against the school authorities. The PIL will come up for hearing on April 1.
