Demand for highway, double-lane road to Bandipora grows shriller after tragic accident

Bandipora, Apr 8: The demand for highway and double lane Bandipora -Sumbal and Srinagar road has grown shriller amid fresh accident near Wular Sunset point on Tuesday. Notably, on Tuesday afternoon, a car driver had a narrow escape after his car smashed the rock near dangerous Churthungh curve, a location which has of late earned the tag of Wular Lake sunset point following the construction of view point. Without the rock, his car would have flung in air and fallen into a deep gorge, similar to the accidents on the same spot, which has consumed dozens of lives, locals at the site noted. The driver, who was injured in the accident, was evacuated to a nearby hospital for treatment, officials said. Notably, at the same spot an army vehicle skidded the road falling into a deep gorge which resulted in the death of four soldiers, earlier this year in January. "Government must immediately take steps to make the road safer by installing guard rails, retaining and burst walls. It is prone to accidents but no one seems bothered that precious lives are getting lost," one resident Mushtaq Ahmad Dar said.

"Besides granting highway status, the government should immediately move to widen the road and make it a double lane," another resident standing at the site added. The locals noted the dangers the Bandipora-Srinagar road poses given narrow space to take over other vehicles and being extremely curvy. They also noted "continuous accidents" on the road have resulted in numerous deaths and injuries as scores of four wheelers and two wheelers have skidded the road.

Those still fresh in the people's minds is when almost three dozen men, women and children died in an accident after a bus rolled down into the gorge at the same spot, two decades back, besides the recent accident of the army vehicle.

"The road connects Gurez too, it should be upgraded to national highway," one more resident said. "So many lives have been lost," he added. Notably, Member of Parliament North Kashmir, Engineer Rashid and MLA Bandipora have raised the issue of road status in parliament and assembly respectively. However, there is no clarity if the status will be given, locals accuse. "Government is paying no attention towards the road's condition", the furious locals said in unison. They said if it was not a possibility they should "atleast make it safer by widening the road so as to make it double lane."

Meanwhile, locals also slammed concerned agencies for not covering all the road stretch with guard rails, with one suggesting they thought rocks will be "more secure". Notably, Bandipora-Sumbal road’s highway status has been a regular demand, with locals pinning hope on the government that it will be met to pull out Bandipora from economic distress, and make it safer and well connected.