After every major bus accident, the Himachal Pradesh Government announces its plan to bring out a “State Transport Policy”, but it has not seen the light of the day so far and the fatal bus accidents are occurring often. More than 350 people have been killed so far in past six months in about 1500 minor and major road accidents. > Twenty-one people were killed on Tuesday near Shimla in two bus accidents and 53 others were injured, some of them are still critical and fighting for their lives in various hospitals.
Difficult hill terrain, bad road conditions, sorry plight of State-run buses and government’s apathy are believed to be some of the main reasons for these accidents according to the experts. The hill roads are narrow and the increasing numbers of vehicles have brought a big pressure on the limited infrastructure. The interior roads in the State are not double lane and it is difficult for two vehicles to cross or overtake smoothly.
The buses mainly the State-owned Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation buses are too old and run out. The bus that met with an accident near Shimla on Tuesday had already done 3.63 lakh kms of running and was in a bad shape. It was repeatedly taken to the HRTC workshops, last time on July 23, and had frequent complaints in its steering and some other parts like the tyres and brake pedal. The steering assembly was replaced on July 24 at Taradevi HRTC workshop and it was sent on some another route, said the insiders. More than 300 such rundown and ramshackle buses are plying on the difficult terrain routes in Himachal. They are being replaced in stages, claimed the officials.
The lack of basic infrastructure on roads like the side stockades and parapets have also resulted in many accidents. Another bus that went down on Tuesday with around 60-70 passengers got luckily stuck in a tree, otherwise the casualties would have been much higher. A total lack of co-ordination between departments like PWD, Forest, Police and Transport is seen every time an accident takes place. This is noticed for a short while and then ignored for the days to come, complained the majority victims and their families.
The deficiency of funds for repairing roads and replacing the old buses is the normal plea taken by the successive governments. About 10,000 buses including 4,000 HRTC buses are running in the State. The private buses mostly operate on profitable routes while the government buses are plying on the difficult and far-flung routes, which is also one of the main reasons of State-owned buses experiencing mishaps, said the officials.
The overuse of roads by the corporate firms in the State without paying extra road maintenance taxes, dumping of debris by the real estate contractors on the roadsides and no proper road-repair undertaken by the PWD contractors are also some other reasons of frequent road accidents here, say the experts.
