Gul Owais
Srinagar, Sep 2: The fatalities in road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed surge in 2019 compared to past four years as over 1000 people died across the Union Territory in the mishaps, official data revealed.
An annual report compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in possession of Precious Kashmir has revealed that Jammu and Kashmir recorded 1054 deaths in traffic accidents in 2019. Of them, 1009 deaths occurred in the road accidents, the report said.
Notably, the fresh NCRB report revealed that a total of 1,81,113 people have died in 4,67,171 traffic mishaps across the country.
The NCRB report, which has been compiled as per the data provided by the States and UTs, further added that a total of 5839 traffic mishaps have occurred in Jammu and Kashmir in the last year.
In these mishaps, a total of 7517 people have sustained injuries. Of them, 6149 injured persons were male while 1368 were female, the report said.
It added that a total of 1054 persons including 865 male and 189 female have died in the traffic mishaps last year.
The report revealed out of total 5839 traffic accidents, 5795 among them have taken place on roads only, adding that 1009 people have died in the mishaps on road only, which include 829 male and 180 female.
In Jammu and Kashmir, 44 railway accidents have taken place in the year 2019, which has left 45 people dead, the report said, adding that 36 among them were male and 9 were female.
The figure revealed in the fresh report has surpassed the previous four years toll as less than 1000 deaths each year have occurred in the mishaps from 2015-18.
In the years 2015, 16, 17 and 18, the figures available revealed that 917, 958, 926 and 984 people respectively have died in Jammu and Kashmir in the mishaps.
The rise in the mishaps and subsequent deaths in Jammu and Kashmir have come to the fore at a time when the government is claiming that series of steps have been taken to reduce the number of mishaps in the Union Territory.
After the increase in the number of road accidents the government had constituted Jammu and Kashmir Road Safety Council to frame the road safety policies. The District Road Safety Committees were also put in place to ensure that steps at district level are taken to save human lives by preventing road accidents. “The council is working with an aim to prevent accidents and reduce the number of deaths by 2020,” the government had said.
The Road Safety Fund was also established in 2018 which is being managed by a Committee headed by the Administrative Secretary, Finance Department.
It had stated that Rs 5.70 crore were spent in 2018-19 and Rs 26.5 crore were allocated for the year 2019-20 to identify and remove the black spots on roads to ensure a safe journey.
The report has also put a question mark on technical measures which were taken to ensure safety on roads and regulate traffic through scientific data and technology based methods. For this, the government had launched Road Accident Data Management System (RADMS) to enable the transport, police and other departments to take corrective measures for ensuring road safety.
