The Supreme Court on Monday flagged a rising number of accidents on highways due to presence of unauthorised eateries and bad road conditions, and sought a report from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the ministry of road, transport and highways (MoRTH) on the issue, after taking suo motu cognisance of fatal road accidents in Rajasthan and Telangana.
A bench of justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi asked the NHAI to carry out a survey of eateries along the two highways—Bharatmala highway in Rajasthan and Hyderabad-Bijapur highway in Telangana—where the accidents took place. The court also issued notice to the ministry of home affairs and the chief secretaries of the states connected by the two highways.
A total of 15 people lost their lives after a tempo traveller hit a stationary truck outside an eatery on Bharatmala highway passing through Phalodi in Rajasthan on November 2. Meanwhile, in Telangana, 19 people were killed after a truck carrying gravel crashed into a Telangana roadways bus in Srikakulam, Telangana, on November 3.
“Two incidents in two days, 40 lives have gone. It is too much a price to be paid,” the court said, adding, “In such circumstances, it is necessary to issue notice to NHAI and the ministry of road, transport and highways (MoRTH) to submit a report in respect of the two highways where the accident took place.”
“Some of the reasons behind the accidents are that the road conditions are not good although regular toll is charged. There are dhabas (roadside restaurants) opened by the general public in an area where they are not supposed to open them. As a result, vehicles park there and other vehicles are not able to see these parked vehicles and collide with them,” the court said in its order.
{{/usCountry}}“Some of the reasons behind the accidents are that the road conditions are not good although regular toll is charged. There are dhabas (roadside restaurants) opened by the general public in an area where they are not supposed to open them. As a result, vehicles park there and other vehicles are not able to see these parked vehicles and collide with them,” the court said in its order.
{{/usCountry}}The court appointed senior advocate ANS Nadkarni to assist in the matter while pointing out that most highways have facility area with a parking bay to facilitate travellers to take a break for food and availing public utilities.
Nadkarni said, “This matter should be addressed on a pan-India basis. This problem is everywhere.”
The bench said that it wishes to first examine the response of the NHAI and Centre on the existing road condition and roadside eateries along the two highways and that it will then pass orders extending the scope to highways across the country.