Inquiry report indicts HRTC, PWD, cable firm

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 26

The magisterial inquiry ordered into the May 7 Jogindernagar bus accident that killed 12 persons has indicted Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) and its driver for overtaking a Delhi-bound tourist bus, PWD and the optical fibre company, which dug up the road with no safety concern for commuters travelling on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar national highway.

The findings of the inquiry accessed by The Tribune revealed that the HRTC bus driver was trying to overtake the Delhi-bound bus. He veered the bus on the shallow track on the right side, plunging the ill-fated bus straight into the deep gorge at Galu near Jogindernagar.

The passengers told the inquiry officer that both the HRTC and the tourist bus drivers were competing and trying to overtake while the latter was not giving pass to the roadways bus.

The state police failed to track the number of the tourist bus which was equally responsible for the accident. The HRTC bus plunged into the gorge, but the tourist bus, which was on its way from Mandi to Dharamsala, did not stop, while police did not care to nab the absconding bus, the inquiry revealed.

The HRTC was plying its seven-year-old bus on the arduous Dharamsala-Reckong Peo (Kinnaur) bus route, but inquiry officer investigated the mechanical report of the bus submitted by the HRTC rather than going for an independent mechanical examination and found that the bus had “no mechanical failure”. The report, which was submitted to the state transport authority and the Mandi Deputy Commissioner recently, further indicted the PWD and optical fibre company which had dug the road for laying of cables. Though the Pathankot-Jogindernagar –Dharamshala- Mandi is a national highway, the digging of road has reduced the road width at the accident spot. The PWD wing of the national highway and contractor of the service provider, which is laying the optical fibre cables, failed to put a signboard to warn the commuters, the inquiry found.

Mandi DC Sandeep Kadam said the inquiry report had been submitted to the state government for further action. The driver was overtaking the other speeding bus and the track collapsed due to the digging of cables, he added.