U’khand HC seeks report on Dhumakot bus mishap

Taking suo motu cognisance of the bus accident in Pauri in which 48 people, including 10 children and 16 women, died the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday directed authorities to file a reply before it by July 20

Updated on: Jul 4, 2018, 22:42:26 IST

Hindustan Times, Nainital | By Neeraj Santoshi

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Taking suo motu cognisance of the bus accident in Pauri in which 48 people, including 10 children and 16 women, died the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday directed authorities to file a reply before it by July 20.

48 people died in the tragedy. (HT Photo)

A division bench of Chief Justice KM Joseph and Justice Sharad Sharma sought the response of the state’s transport secretary, transport commissioner, Garhwal and Kumaon commissioners, regional transport authorities of Pauri, Dehradun, Almora and Haldwani and DIGs of Garhwal and Kumaon, said Paresh Tripathi, chief standing counsel.

The court took cognisance of newspaper reports of the accident on July 1 and treated it as a PIL — ‘The Matter of Prevention And Regulation Of The Killer Public Transport System Of Uttarakhand’.

The main cause of the accident was overloading, the PIL said. The court held that transporting 61 passengers in a 28-seater bus was an invitation to an untoward incident and such a slight is due to the negligence of the public transport department.

The court further said that the government machinery failed miserably and that neither proper rescue operation was carried out nor speedy first aid was provided.

Earlier, the division bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Lokpal Singh of the high court had passed directions to the state government to curb overloading but to no avail.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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