M A I N   N E W S

Alarming rise in fatalities
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 18 — As many as 17 people die in road accidents in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh every day. These deaths on roads are far more than total unnatural deaths covered under the Indian Penal Code in the region.

Nearly 6,000 people were killed in road accidents in the region during 1999, showing an alarming increase of a little more than 4 per cent over the previous year.

Interestingly, more deaths have taken place on roads in planned and developing towns than in old historic towns. For example, in Panchkula, with less than one-third of population of Chandigarh, 79 persons lost their lives in road accidents in 1999 as against 83 in 1998. And until June 30, as many as 50 deaths in road accidents have already been reported from Panchkula.

The situation is no better in both Faridabad and Gurgaon, which form part of the National Capital Region of Delhi. Of the 2870 deaths reported in road accidents in Haryana during 1999, 316 took place in Gurgaon and 335 in Faridabad, which works out to 23.4 per cent of the total deaths.

During the current year, of the 1467 road accident deaths in Haryana, Gurgaon has 196 followed by Faridabad 161, thus accounting for nearly 25 per cent of total road accident deaths of the state. This increase in road accident deaths has been alarming.

The situation appears to be no better in Chandigarh, which recorded 128 deaths in road accidents in 1998. The tally increased to 137 in 1999 and this year till date, 80 persons have met their end on city roads.

If one looks at national figures compiled until March 31, 1997, Punjab was far ahead of Haryana in the number of vehicles per one lakh of population. In Punjab the figure was 9,283 as against 5,677 of Haryana. Goa was at No 1 position with 17,050 vehicles per one lakh of population.

According to the same report, the number of motor vehicles — all categories — registered in Punjab until March 31, 1997, was 20,94,619 as against 10,65,147 in Haryana, 3,92,392 in Chandigarh and 2,42,200 in Goa.

These figures clearly indicate that the number of vehicles alone is not responsible for deaths on roads. Haryana has almost half the number of vehicles than in Punjab, but the number of deaths on roads is a little more than its neighbour. Similarly, Chandigarh has nearly 20 per cent of total vehicles of Punjab, but here the fatalities on road are only 5 per cent of fatalities in Punjab and less than 2.5 per cent of Haryana.

In Panchkula, for example, the total strength of registered vehicles on March 31, 1997, stood at only 23, 976, which was just 6 per cent of total vehicles registered in Chandigarh. Compared to that, Panchkula records nearly 66 per cent of total road accident deaths of Chandigarh.

To be concluded

* up to June 30, 2000.