Bhubaneswar June 30 : Even as the State saw 377 road mishaps between February and April this year on the 19 accident-prone routes, the highway patrol teams have failed to detect any traffic violations at a majority of vulnerable stretches, putting a question mark on the highway patrol initiative that was launched by the Chief Minister five months back. Under the initiative, dedicated highway patrolling units were engaged in such routes across several districts.
Official reports reveal that not a single case of traffic rule violation has been detected in four stretches and just one violation was reported in three routes where highway patrolling units were deployed.
Around 68 accidents were reported at Akhuapada to Maitipur route, Haldiapali to Godabhanga, Soro to Simulia (one of the most vulnerable stretches on NH-16) and Panposh chowk to Kansbahal.
However, the patrolling units did not find any traffic violation on these roads. Similarly, the stretches where 45 mishaps took place, but only one each case of violation was detected by the patrolling team are Barkul to Rambha, Chhatrapur to Gopalpur and Rambha to Chhatrapur. All the seven above-mentioned highway routes are prone to accidents.
In the 12 other routes, the units have detected 542 traffic violations and shifted 269 accident victims to hospitals during the period. As the number of accidents in the 19 stretches have remained high, the Transport department has flagged discrepancies in carrying out highway patrolling by the dedicated teams and urged the DGP to ensure stricter monitoring.
In a communication to the DGP, Principal Secretary of Commerce and Transport department Madhusudan Padhi said inspite of constant persuasion, there seems to be no improvement in enforcement activities. “Since the road mishaps are on the rising trend, the performance of the patrol teams needs to be closely monitored for reduction of fatalities,” he said.
Although road fatalities had come down by 11 per cent (pc) in 2020 as compared to 2019, the deaths had increased by 26 pc between September and December last year. The same trend continued in the first quarter of the year till the lockdown was imposed.
Padhi has sought police stations-wise accident data from February to May for 2020 and 2021 within 15 days to assess the effectiveness of highway patrol. The government is set to start patrolling in all 36 vulnerable stretches fitted with Speed Laser Guns in all the vehicles. Padhi had urged the DGP to prepare a standard operating procedure for smooth management of the highway patrol system.