Guwahati: Yet another person lost his life on the highways in Assam when the LPG tanker he was driving met with an accident at Nambor in Assam’s Golaghat district on Wednesday.
The incident took place on National Highway 39, near the Doigrung wildlife sanctuary, when the driver of the LPG tanker, bearing registration number MN03-T-0891, lost control over and overturned, killing him on the spot.
The LPG tanker was on its way from Manipur to Guwahati when the mishap occurred. The deceased has been identified as Ramesh Singh, a resident of Manipur.
“I was just behind the ill-fated tanker when the accident took place. We started together from Manipur on Tuesday evening and were on our way to Guwahati but unfortunately, this happened. He was speeding and lost control over the vehicle which led to the accident. He died on the spot,” a driver of another truck from Manipur told local media.
On the other hand, some drivers alleged the Motor Vehicle Inspectors (MVIs) in Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts of harassment, due to which they drive at breakneck speed in the stretch between Golaghat and Karbi Anglong to escape from being stopped by the traffic enforcement agency.
Assam has witnessed an increase in road accident cases in the recent past. At least 8,250 cases of road accidents were registered in Assam in 2019, 6,593 in 2020, and 4,328 by July 31, 2021. On the other hand, as many as 3,207 people have died in road accidents in the state in 2019, 2,629 in 2020, and 1,789 by July 31, 2021.
Over-speeding is one of the major causes of road accidents and accounted for 54.70 per cent of total road accidents in 2018 and 84.40 per cent in 2019. Of the 2,629 deaths in 2020, 48 per cent occurred on the national highways in the state, compelling the Assam government to impose speed limits on the highways.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on August 2, 2022 directed the state transport department to ensure necessary safety norms are introduced in the accident-prone areas to bring down instances of road accidents in the state.
The chief minister asked the state transport minister Parimal Suklabaidya to hold a meeting with the Public Works Department (PWD) and state transport department to assess and analyse the road accidents in the accident-prone areas and suggest measures to introduce more safety norms to save lives of the people.
CM Sarma also asked Deputy Commissioners of all the districts to immediately find out ways to cut down road accidents which recorded over 100 casualties in a year.
Also Read | Assam: Minor killed, 8 injured in separate accidents in Golaghat