Deadly J&K Roads: Advisors, Chief Secy review status of NH

SRINAGAR: In the wake of frequent road accidents claiming at least 70 lives in past two months in less than a dozen major mishaps, two of the three Advisors to Governor, along with state Chief Secretary, today reviewed the status of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, besides deliberating on various issues concerning movement of traffic, blockades on its various stretches, and the ensuing darbar move.

“On the directions of Governor, Advisors K Vijay Kumar, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai and Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam Monday held extensive deliberations with the concerned officers in the State administration besides representatives of NHAI and various construction companies,” an official spokesman said.

The trio reviewed the status of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, movement of traffic in the wake of frequent road accidents and blockades on its various stretches and also keeping in view the current fruit season, winter supplies and movement of general public during the ensuing durbar move, he said.

The deliberations during the meeting primarily focused on identifying the causes/core areas leading to prolonged traffic congestion along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in particular between the Banihal-Ramban-Udhampur stretches and evolving a composite action plan to not only ensure hassle free traffic flow along the National Highway but also to secure optimum coordination and synergy among various departments/construction agencies to respond on a real time basis in the event of breakdown of vehicles, landslides and accidents.

Advisors and Chief Secretary emphasized that given the socio-economic importance of the National Highway in the movement of fruit laden trucks, winter supplies to Kashmir Valley besides meeting the logistic requirements of security forces, police and general public, all concerned departments/agencies should redouble their efforts to ensure that it remains open for smooth flow of traffic.

Director General of Police, J&K, Principal Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, Joint Director IB, Srinagar, ADGP, CID, J&K, Principal Secretary, Transport Department, GoC 15 Corps, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, IG (Ops), CRPF, IGP, Kashmir Zone, IGP Traffic, J&K, Regional Officer, NHAI, representatives of construction companies and other senior officers participated in the meeting. Divisional Commissioner, Jammu and IGP, Jammu Zone participated in the meeting through video conferencing.

The primary causes of traffic congestion were identified during the meeting and a composite action plan finalized for implementation by the concerned departments/agencies.

It was decided in the meeting that steps would be taken immediately to resolve all Traffic related issues of the NH to prevent congestion on the road and inconvenience to travelers in future.

In order to prevent congestion arising out of vehicle breakdown, IG Traffic will prepare a traffic management plan with adequate recovery vehicles positioned at frequent intervals with adequate connectivity. As far as landslides are concerned, the IG Traffic, J&K will ensure that landslide clearing teams are placed at pre-identified location prone to frequent landslides. Additional equipment will be provided to IG Traffic, J&K for this purpose.

In order to manage traffic congestion, holding areas will be identified on the Kashmir and Jammu sides so that vehicles are held their rather than on the road itself.

On the health front, 10 new trauma centre and 100 ambulances will be operationalized at the earliest to handle emergency. To improve the quality of the vehicles on the road, police and transport department will ensure enforcement of all Motor Vehicle Rules to check offenses and also ensure fitness of vehicles. All police stations on the highway will be accountable for this and CCTV arrangements will be installed for this purpose.

Divisional Commissioner, Jammu and Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir were directed to launch a special drive for removal of encroachments while exploring suitable options for creating way side amenities along the National Highway for convenience of the commuters.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir was also asked to hold a meeting with the Chief Engineer R&B, Kashmir for addressing the issues on the 5-6 km stretch of Mughal road so that traffic can move on it without any encumbrances and for its use as an alternate road to the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.