426 persons lost lives on NH-44 in four yrs

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, June 7

An RTI query has brought out that the Panipat-Ambala stretch of the National Highway 44 claimed the lives of about 100 persons every year in the past more than four years.

The NHAI, in its reply to the RTI query, said 426 persons had lost their lives in accidents from January 1, 2015, to March 2019. In all, 67 commuters lost their lives in 2015, 111 in 2016, 124 in 2017, 74 in 2018 and 50 this year till March 31.

Panipat-based Amit Rathee, who had sought the information, blamed the poor condition of the NH-44 for the fatalities. He said the state government should take action against officials for not taking care of the NH.

“Illegal cuts on the NH-44, potholes, lack of safety railing at several points, over-speeding, drunken driving, casual attitude of commuters, talking on phone and dozing off while driving, wrong side driving, violation of traffic rules, and overloaded vehicles are some of the reasons for accidents,” says Rajshree Singh, IG, Traffic and Highways.

She said the authorities had written to the private company, which had built the flyovers on the NH-44, to rectify the flaws.