Somedays back we had a tragic road accident in Doda region, where multiple lives were lost. This is not the first accident that has happened on this route. In fact we often get to hear about such news. Each time we see the political leaders, those who run the government, and those who matter in civil society spaces, issue condolence messages, and sympathise with the bereaved families.
As a customary thing, we also see some statements where it is impressed upon the government to help the affected families. And in certain cases government does announce relief in favour of the bereaved families, and also to those who are injured in the accident. For some days the atmosphere of grief stays, and people visit the families of the dead, and also the injured in hospitals. And with that the matter is laid to rest, till we have another such tragic incident, and the customary set of things is rolled out again.
It is extremely important on all such occasion to be with the families of the the victims, and help them in whatever way we can. But the most important thing is to ensure that such accidents don’t happen in future. It is true that accidents cannot be eliminated completely, but if necessary precautions are taken, we can definitely minimise them. To this end, it is very important that the concerned departments analyse the data of accidents, ascertain the most frequent causes, and try to eliminate them one by one.
On these hilly roads we often come across such accidents in which lives are lost. Why we have made no scientific study of all the previous accidents, made it public, and made scientific inferences from that study, and applied the lessons on the ground. Why we have no special task force to ensure that the causes of accident on such roads are identified, and removed. After all it is the matter of human lives. And on such routes it is a perpetual phenomenon. This, in fact, should be declared as an emergency and the concerned departments asked to undertake a serious study of this matter and suggest corrective measures.