With these accidents in a row, the causes of road accidents and the possible remedies to reduce them have emerged once again. Yet, it is strange to note that bus accidents, which happen so frequently, do not receive as much attention from the concerned authorities as plane crashes that claim a far less number of human lives. When Buddha Air crashed at Kotdanda of Laitpur on September 25, a commission was formed to investigate the cause of the crash. It is unfortunate that the Sindhuli tragedy is not being treated with the same degree of seriousness.
Overloading has been cited as the cause of accidents in all the above mentioned cases. True. About 60 people were crammed into the Kathmandu-bound BP Yatayat, which had a capacity for just about 30 to 35 passengers. But this is not the only reason. During the festivals, transport entrepreneurs encourage overload as this is the time of the year when they can mint money easily. They tend to operate bus services even in the trails that have just been bulldozed. The proof of this is Sindhuli-Bardibas section itself, which has not even been granted route permit by Department of Transport Management. As most of the rural roads in Nepal are poorly built, bumpy and rough, more such tragedies might take place if the concerned authorizes fail to take appropriate action.
Road accidents claim an unnecessarily high number of lives in Nepal. Over 1,300 people lost their lives in over 5,500 road accidents from June 2010 to July 2011 alone. This is a pretty scary statistic. This daily has been drawing the attention of the concerned authorities to take up effective measures to minimize road accidents each time there has been one. But our recommendation has so far fallen on deaf ears. Accidents cannot be prevented completely but surely the causes cited above can be addressed, thus helping to bring down the abysmally high number of deaths from it.
We appreciate Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai’s directive to probe the case and explore the cause of the Jhangajholi accident and take all possible measures to prevent recurrence of such accidents. But mere directives will not help in reducing accidents. The government must immediately stop operation of passenger buses in the Sindhuli-Bardibas road section and other rural roads across the country until they are ready for operation. The condition and capacity of buses that ply on the remote roads must be monitored and approved by Department of Transport besides strictly enforcing passenger limit in each bus. Finally, we express our deepest condolences to the bereaved families of all the accidents and pray to the almighty for peace of the departed souls.
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Photographs of Sindhuli on display
