Assam DGP Issues Strict Guidelines to 7 Accident-Prone Districts

The tragic incident that took place on May 29 in Guwahati’s Jalukbari area claiming the lives of seven talented students of Assam Engineering College (AEC) has shaken the people of the state as well as the state administration.

Following this, Assam Director General of Police (DGP) GP Singh has issued strict instructions to seven accident-prone districts in the state and to prevent such incidents, the police department has drafted a special action plan.

The districts that have been identified as accident-prone are: Nagaon, Kamrup (Metropolitan), Barpeta, Sonitpur, Kamrup, Dhemaji and Nalbari.

The Lead Agency for Road Safety has collected data of the number of accidents that has occurred in the districts and identified accident-prone areas of national highways in the state.

A few days before the tragic incident that shook the entire state, a meeting was held at the DGP office where the decision was made. The Public Works Department (PWD) officials also attended the meeting.

It  pertinent to mention that since 2019, the number of accidents, especially in urban areas, reportedly came down to almost zero per cent in the two Covid-hit years, however, again since 2021-22, such cases have started to increase rapidly and alarmingly in a few districts and headquarters in the present year.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), 1,53,972 people were killed, and 3,84,448 persons were injured in 4,12,432 road crashes in India in 2021. On an average, India witnessed 1,130 road crashes and 422 deaths daily or 47 crashes and 18 deaths every hour. In percentage terms, in 2021, the number of road crashes increased by almost 12.6 percent from the previous year, while crash-related deaths increased by 16.9 percent and injuries increased by almost 10.4 percent. The road crash severity increased from 33.7 in 2019 and 36 in 2022 to 37.3 in 2021.

The following are the preliminary data collected by the Lead Agency for Road Safety from the seven districts and submitted to the police department:

Nagaon District

Within the Nagaon district, a total of 181 fatal crashes and 262 serious crashes were reported in 2022, which resulted in a total of 195 fatalities and 353 serious injuries.

Kamrup (M) District

Within the Kamrup (M) district, a total of 155 fatal crashes, 272 serious injury crashes, and 117 minor injury crashes were reported in 2022, which resulted in a total of 160 fatalities, 348 serious injuries and 21 minor injuries.

Barpeta District

Within the Barpeta district, a total of 125 fatal crashes were reported in 2022, which resulted in a total of 132 fatalities and 21 serious injuries.

Sonitpur District

Within the Sonitpur district, a total of 124 fatal crashes were reported in 2022, which resulted in a total of 129 fatalities and 15 serious injuries.

Kamrup District

Within the Kamrup district, a total of 121 fatal crashes, 201 serious injury crashes, and 23 minor injury crashes were reported in 2022, which resulted in a total of 121 fatalities, 236 serious injuries and 8 minor injuries.

Dhemaji District

Within the Dhemaji district, a total of 97 fatal crashes, 30 serious injury crashes and 15 minor injury crashes were reported in 2022, which resulted in a total of 106 fatalities, 63 serious injuries and 19 minor injuries.

Nalbari District

Within the Nalbari district, a total of 103 fatal crashes and 187 serious injury crashes were reported in 2022, which resulted in a total of 111 fatalities, 226 serious injuries and 6 minor injuries.

Also Read: Jalukbari Accident: Forensic Experts Team from Delhi Visits Site