Despite an increase in the number of road accidents caused due to rash driving and overloading becoming a serious cause of concern for the authorities, no strict action has been taken yet.
Local residents said public vehicles plying on all routes of Samba district were always overloaded, thereby increasing the chances of accidents.
“To earn more, local bus and minibus operators are violating traffic norms and accommodating more passengers than capacity in the vehicles,“” said Rahul Kumar, a local resident.
“Recently a bus packed with passengers rammed into a bridge near the Nanak Chak area of Samba. Three persons were killed and many injured, but violations are still continuing,” he said.
The directions of the authorities concerned had the least impact on vehicle operators and more strict action was required against them, he added.
“Buses on the Jammu-Kathua route can be seen racing with the each other with the idea of getting more passengers,” said Davinder Singh, another local resident.
“Overloaded minibuses can be seen, especially on the Samba-Sumb, Samba-Bainglar, Samba-Mansar and Vijaypur-Ramgarh routes and other routes on the national highway,” he said.
“Not only overloading, but rash driving is also major trouble for people. The Motor Vehicle Department and traffic police seem to be casual and have turned a blind eye to the menace,” he said.
“With a view to curb the menace of traffic violations, we conduct an extensive check once a week,” said Kuldeep Singh, Assistant Regional Transport Officer, Samba.
“A numbers of vehicle operators have been booked under provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act. We have collected Rs 30 lakh as fine for various traffic violations from offenders till November,” he said.
They were trying to educate people about various safety measures required to be taken to avoid road mishap, he said.
