Report on rising accidents in Jammu’s mountainous areas filed in High Court

Jammu: Days after the J&K and Ladakh High Court expressed displeasure over delay in the visit of an expert committee at accident-prone areas to analyse the reasons and preventive measures, Jammu Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar, who is the nodal officer of the committee, today said the report had been submitted with the court.

The Division Bench of the High Court J&K and Ladakh (Jammu Wing), comprising Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice MA Chowdhary, in PILs highlighting accidental deaths on the roads, particularly on Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban national highway and Mughal Road, had expressed displeasure over the delay in the visit of the expert committee constituted in December last year to the vulnerable spots.

The committee was expected to make recommendations in its report to put an end to accidents on mountainous roads. Appearing for the petitioners on March 22, advocate SS Ahmed, with advocates Rahul Raina, Supriya Chouhan and Syed Majid Shah, had submitted that it was unfortunate that the nodal officer appointed by the Division Bench vide its order dated December 17, 2023, had taken the directions of the court casually and failed to facilitate the inspection of the vulnerable sites of accidents.

The Division Bench had expressed displeasure in open court with regard to the non-submission of the status report by the officer in view of non-visit of the expert committee on the vulnerable sites of accidents on Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban and Mughal road.

The expert committee was comprised of Prof GM Bhat, former HoD, Department of Geology, University of Jammu, Dr Ankit Khajuria, assistant professor at IIT-Jammu, Mohinder Kumar, former Executive Engineer, and Major Gaurav Tewari, GREF.

However, Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar on Friday told The Tribune that the expert committee had already visited the accident-prone sites and a report had been filed with the High Court.

Roads in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban have become death traps for commuters as multiple accidents have taken place at these sites with no or little focus to end the menace. The court had directed the administration to form an expert committee after PILs were filed following an accident in Doda district, in which 39 people had died when a bus they were travelling in rolled down into a deep gorge.