Overcrowded vehicles with pilgrims danger on road
Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service
Hisar, September 4
The overcrowded vehicles indulging in gross traffic violations are putting the lives of thousands of pilgrims, travelling from different states to Gogamedi temple, at risk on way to Gogamedi village in Hamunagarh district of Rajasthan, 80 km from Hisar town.
Pilgrims from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, besides various districts of Haryana, are thronging the one-month-long fair being organised in the temple. The pilgrims mostly arrive in vehicles and tourist buses.
Though accidents are reported almost every year during the fare time, vehicle owners as well as pilgrims seem to throw all norms to the wind. The traffic and police authorities seem to look the other way regarding these violations.
The traffic manager with the Transport Department Jitender Kumar admitted that the vehicles were violating the norms. “They are not only putting their own lives in danger, but also causes traffic jams in the town,” he said, adding that the police authorities were responsible for reining in such violations.
The traffic in charge, police, inspector Mandeep Singh, meanwhile, added that they had issued about 15 challans to these vehicles in the last three days. “We have diverted these vehicles on the bypass road and barred their entry to the town. We are issuing challans to the vehicles which entered the town area.”
A canter driver from Gaziabad in UP said they could adjust around 80 to 100 pilgrims by converting their vehicles into a “double decker”. “Most of the pilgrims are from poor families. They pool money to hire the vehicles and try to adjust maximum number of pilgrims, which cuts down their cost of journey,” he said.
Tourist buses also carry passengers on roof, which too is a gross violation. A mid-sized truck can even carry around 100 passengers, while Tata Ace can have around 50 passengers. Rash and negligent driving has also led to mishaps in the past in which several pilgrims have lost their lives on way to Gogamedi.
