Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar today directed the concerned officers to take necessary measures and come up with a plan of action to avoid road accidents and remove traffic congestion in Jammu and Kashmir. He passed on these directions to bring plans in force in order to lessen the cases of road accidents while chairing a meeting at Civil Secretariat here to discuss various traffic issues. The meeting also discussed various issues and grievances of transporters of Jammu and Kashmir and J&K Road Transport Corporation.Expressing concern over road accidents, he directed the officers to identify black spots, where there is frequent occurrence of accidents, and the measures to be taken to address these spots. He asked the officers to undertake a proper analysis of the traffic accidents and come up with a proper plan of action to minimize the road accidents to save lives.He asked the officers to visit the fatal accident spots and gather all the relevant information so that remedial measures can be taken.The Advisor reviewed the progress of the Road Accident Data Management System and directed that it be operationalised within 15 days. The RIDE Safe App also requires to be effectively utilized. He said that the fundamental rule of traffic flow is that we should know the critical bottleneck areas so that action can be taken accordingly.While directing the officers to take concerted action in this regard, he asked them to implement immediate measures to address the issue till the long term measures are put in place.
The Advisor directed the officers to do things in mission mode. He said that strict enforcement of laws should be ensured and proper monitoring needs to be done.He asked the officers to ensure deployment of traffic policemen at critical spots and license and permits of repeated offenders should be cancelled. He also said that checks and balances should be in place in issuing of driving licenses.He said that enforcement should be done strictly and intelligently and a closer monitoring system should be put in place to avoid road accidents. He also said that overloading of commercial vehicles has also to be checked.While asking the officers to prioritize the available resources, he said that everyone has to be made accountable. He also laid emphasis on mass awareness about the need to follow traffic rules, besides asking the officers to pay attention on installing rumble strips, warning signs, mobile barricades, signage, traffic lights and planning halting spots & parking spaces. In the same meeting, Advisor to LG also asked the officers to redress the issues of Transport Welfare Association, Road Transport Corporation Workers Union. The Advisor reviewed the present status of the issues raised by them and also of the steps being taken to redress them.The meeting was attended by Inspector General of Police, Traffic, Jammu; Transport Commissioner, Jammu; Managing Director, JKSRTC, Special Secretary, Transport Department and other officers.