Dehradun: After the bus accident in Almora, questions are now being raised about the crash barriers installed on the side of the roads. Cases of road accidents have always been coming to the fore in the state, especially in the mountainous areas. This is the reason why the state government is insisting on installing crash barriers on mountain routes so that road accidents can be curbed. For this, the Public Works Department had identified a total of 237 places across the state where it was decided to install crash barriers along about 9851.70 km of roads.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a review meeting with departmental officials regarding the bus accident. During the meeting, CM Dhami emphasized that he had earlier also given instructions to install crash barriers on the roads in view of road safety. Along with this, the CM has given instructions to seek answers from the officers who were negligent in the work of installing crash barriers. In such a situation, the departmental officials have become alert about the crash barrier.
Crash barriers on more than 800 km of roads
Out of the total 9851.70 km of roads proposed by the Public Works Department, financial approval has been received to install crash barriers on the sides of 1294.60 km of roads. Whereas out of the financial approval of 1294.60 km of roads, the work of crash barriers has been completed only on 871.73 km of roads. So far 409 crore 35 lakh 98 thousand rupees have been spent in its construction. However, it is expected that the work of crash barriers in the remaining 422.87 km of roads is likely to be completed by March 2025.
Time till 31 March 2025
At the same time, giving more information, Secretary of Public Works Department Dr. Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that CM Pushkar Singh Dhami had already given instructions in this regard that crash barriers should be installed or parapets should be built in all the state highways and national highways. On which the Public Works Department is working. In such a situation, by March 31, 2025, all the state highways and national highways of the state will be covered with crash barriers or parapets. Also said that whatever work is to be done regarding road safety, those works are being done since last year.
Financial approval has been received
Sufficient budget has been given by the government for road safety. Also, it was said that crash barriers should be installed on all the black spots and sensitive routes. In view of which information was sought from the district level road safety committee. In such a situation, till last year, wherever the committee had talked about doing safety work, financial approval has been given for it. On which work is going on. Apart from this, the department is also working to do safety work on the remaining state highways.
No cause of road accident in primary investigation
Also said that the commissioner is investigating the bus accident that happened in Almora on Monday. However, PWD engineers went to inspect the accident site and they say that the vehicle fell after travelling a long distance, so it is likely that the speed of the bus must have been high. The road width at the place where the bus accident took place is about 10 meters. Therefore, according to the primary assessment, the road does not seem to have any role. Despite this, if any issue related to the roads comes to light during the investigation, then PWD will take action.
