Road mishaps at black spots claimed 395 lives in three years

As many as 395 persons have lost their lives in accidents at 717 black spots across the state in the past three years. This fatalities include 131 deaths in 2021-22 (April 1 to March 31), 128 in 2022-23, 97 in 2023-24 and 39 deaths from April 1 to November 30, 2024.

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This was revealed in the answer to a question asked by Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti during the winter session of the Assembly at Tapovan in Dharamsala recently. Satti had asked Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh to provide the details of the total number of black spots that had been identified and how many people had lost their lives in road accidents in the past three years.

It was revealed that Mandi district had the highest 200 of the total 717 black spots, followed Chamba (164), Sirmaur (120), Kangra (82), Shimla (49), Bilaspur (42), Solan (25), Kullu (20), Una (14) and Kinnaur (1). Hamirpur and Lahaul and Spiti have no black spots.

As many as 95 persons have lost their lives due to accidents at the black spots in Kangra district in the past three years, the highest in any district. Solan and Kullu districts registered the highest 60 deaths each, followed by Sirmaur (57), Bilaspur (32), Mandi (28), Una (23), Shimla (20), Chamba (17), and Hamirpur (3). No death due to black spots was reported in Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts in the past three years.

Over the past three years, 3,643 deaths, including at black spots, have occurred due to accidents in the state. The highest number of casualties have taken place in Kangra district which recorded total 560 fatalities, followed by 549 deaths in Shimla district. Lahaul and Spiti has reported 46 deaths due to road accidents in the past three years which is the lowest in any district.

“To eliminate these black spots, the government has made and is making a provision for the construction of retaining walls, breast walls, parapets, safety walls, crash barriers, road signs, improvement of turns, etc. A provision of Rs 15.62 crore has been made in 2024-25 for the above works. In this, an allocation of Rs 6.52 crore has been made under the annual action plan and Rs 9.10 crore under the state annual budget and the work is in progress,” said the minister in his reply.