National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah have expressed deep sorrow and anguish over the loss of lives in a road accident in Ramban.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of lives. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families. This year there has been a steep increase in the number of road accidents on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. What is worrying is the fact that there has been no initiative by the incumbent governor administration to curb the occurrence of such fatal accidents,” Dr. Farooq said in a statement.
“The highway has unfortunately turned into the highway of death. India being a signatory to Brasilia declaration is committed to halving road accident death by 2020. The process however requires strict scientific action from administration, which unfortunately has shut its eyes and ears to the mounting road accidents. The present governor administration is rather overwhelmed by prejudices and over-indulgence in politicking,” he said.
Omar Abdullah said that they have been repeatedly asking the incumbent governor administration to find scientific remedy for curbing such accidents. “However our repeated pleas have fell on deaf ears.”
Former finance minister Syed Mohammad AltafBukhari has also expressed deep shock and grief over the loss of lives.
Expressing serious concern over an alarming increase in road accidents especially in mountainous regions of the State, Bukhari urged the governor led administration to take immediate measures to prevent such frequent heart wrenching mishaps in the region.
He also demanded a tough action against the traffic violators who mostly cause these accidents consuming precious lives almost on daily basis.
The former finance minister also referred to a research conducted by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on increasing road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the lack of education, enforcement, engineering and emergency services have been found main reasons for the growing accidents in the state. He urged the governor-led administration to constitute more special checking squads especially in mountainous regions of the State to stop the increasing road accidents that lead to loss of precious lives off and on. Bukhari also demanded immediate release of ex gratia relief to the bereaved families.
Advisor to Governor, K K Sharma, has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the accident.
The Advisor while expressing solidarity with the families of the bereaved persons said that the necessary instructions have been issued to the district administration for providing best possible medical assistance to the injured. He also prayed for eternal peace to the departed souls.