Ludhiana most deadly among three Police Commissionerates in state
The Ludhiana Police Commissionerate continues to earn the dubious distinction of being the most deadly among all three Police Commissionerates in the state, a latest government report has confirmed.
The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that a whopping 402 deaths in road accidents were reported in the Ludhiana Police Commissionerate limits during 2023, which were more than double than only 199 casualties, which account for even less than half, precisely 49.5 per cent, logged in the other two Police Commissionerates in Amritsar and Jalandhar during that year, the official figures have revealed.
The figures were released in the annual report on “Road Crashes and Traffic in Punjab 2023”, which was released by the Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav recently.
According to the report prepared by a team led by the ADGP (Traffic and Road Safety) AS Rai, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, showed that a total of 601 persons had died due to road accidents in all three Police Commissionerates, which account for 12.44 per cent of the total share of 4,829 road accident fatalities reported in the entire state during 2023.
The report was prepared following an extensive research on road crashes and traffic in the state conducted by a team of experts comprising Punjab Traffic Advisor-cum-Director, Punjab Road Safety and Traffic Research Centre (PRSTRC), Dr Navdeep K Asija.
While Ludhiana reported the maximum of 402 casualties, Amritsar logged 110 road accident deaths and Jalandhar registered 89 fatalities in road crashes in 2023.
Ludhiana remained the worst-hit and deadliest among all three Commissionerates in the state for the fourth consecutive year as the industrial and business hub of the state had reported the maximum of 356 road accidents deaths in 2022, 380 in 2021, and 283 in 2020.
While Amritsar had logged 68 casualties in road crashes in 2022, 65 in 2021, and 66 in 2020, Jalandhar had registered 91 fatalities in road mishaps in 2022, 92 in 2021, and 82 in 2020.
The analysis of the reports pertaining to the previous four years revealed that the number of road accidents deaths was on the rise in Ludhiana and Amritsar since 2020 while Jalandhar recorded a dip in casualties in 2023 as compared to 2022 and 2021 but the count was more than that in 2020.
The year 2020 reported the lowest count of road accidents and deaths due to the Covid-induced curfew and lockdown, which had kept roads free of vehicular traffic for several months.
Also, the cumulative count of road accident deaths in all three Police Commissionerates had witnessed a phenomenal rise in the past four years. From 431 casualties in road mishaps across Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar in 2020, the number went up to 537 in 2021, dipped to 515 in 2022, but once again shot up to 601, which was highest in the past four years, in 2023.
In the past four years, a total of 2,084 lives had been snuffed out in the road accidents across Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Jalandhar, of which Ludhiana alone reported the highest of 1,421 casualties, which accounted for 68.19 per cent of the total count, while Amritsar recorded the lowest of 309 fatalities and Jalandhar registered 354 deaths between 2020 and 2023.
"The Punjab traffic police have advanced several road safety programmes, training and seminars to cope up with the traffic volume while also expanding road safety across the state. Our unique initiative of the Sadak Surakhiya Force, an exclusive and dedicated road safety police force, has also helped in enhancing road safety measures," said AS Rai, ADGP (Traffic & Road Safety).