14% rise in accidental deaths in Panipat

Mukesh Tandon

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Panipat, March 11

Panipat district witnessed 14 per cent rise in accidental deaths in 2021.

As many as 561 accident cases have been registered in the district in which 310 people died and 354 people sustained injuries.

The district police had recorded 309 accidental deaths in 2019, 271 deaths in 2020 and 310 deaths in 2021. While 415 people sustained injuries in 2019, 345 were injured in 2020 and 354 in 2021.

CCTV cameras being installed

The work of installation of CCTV cameras on NH-44 from Kundli border to Ambala border is in full swing and almost 90 per cent work has been completed. Rajshree Singh, IG traffic

Over-speeding one of main causes

Rash and negligent driving, over-speeding, drunken driving and use of mobile phones during driving are the main reasons behind fatal accidents. Sandeep Kumar, DSP traffic, Panipat

“Rash and negligent driving, over-speeding, drunken driving and use of mobile phones during driving are the main reasons behind the fatal accidents. But a new major reason for accidents — lane-change by heavy vehicle drivers on NH-44 — has come to the fore these days. Heavy vehicle drivers change lanes and drive on the speed lanes, leaving their designated lane,” said Sandeep Kumar, DSP Traffic, Panipat.

The district police have identified three hyper-sensitive black spots for accidents in the district – near the BBMB gate on NH-44, Kalkha-Luhari point on NH-73A (Panipat-Rohtak highway) and Patti Kalyana on NH-44 in the Samalkha area.

Panipat is an industrial town and thousands of labourers cross the NH-44 near BBMB gate as there is no proper crossing on the highway. A foot over bridge (FOB) is there, but it is around 500 m from the spot where people cross the road. The situation becomes worse at the time of shift change in factories.

As per sources, the police have recorded 94 cases in Samalkha. It is the highest number of accident cases in the district in 2021. As many as 47 people sustained injuries and 59 lost their lives.

In Samalkha, 89 people got injured and 62 people died in 2019; 41 were injured and 51 died in 2020.

A police official, on the condition of the anonymity, said that a meeting of road safety is being held almost every month under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner (DC) in which all departments including NHAI, Police Department, RTA and other departments participate and the issue of rising accidents is being taken up in every meeting. The DC pulls up NHAI and other officials in every meeting but to no avail, the official said.

Sandeep Kumar, DSP Traffic, said that the police teams were regularly trying to control the number of accidents by taking strict action against traffic rule violators, by challaning violators.

“Traffic awareness campaigns are being organised from time to time for heavy vehicle drivers,” said Rajshree Singh, IG Traffic.