KARACHI: High officials of the Sindh government were at loggerheads with their counterparts in the National Highway Authority at a recently held meeting over exact cause of a tragic accident at Thehri bypass in Khairpur on Nov 11, 2014, according to reliable sources.

The accident had claimed lives of 57 people and left several others injured when an overcrowded passenger bus and a truck laden with goods collided head on at the bypass.

The sources told Dawn that at the meeting held at Sindh secretariat on Jan 26 on growing accidents on highways, Sukkur Commissioner Mohammad Abbas Baloch blamed the NHA for the tragic accident but the NHA project director, Noor Mustafa, rejected his allegation and claimed the authority had fulfilled its responsibility by carrying out repair of the highway’s portion where the accident had taken place.

“The accident occurred due to negligence on part of responsible agencies and primarily due to criminal slackness of NHA and non-adoption of safety measures as well as lack of proper planning by the consultant and contractor hired by the NHA,” said Mr Baloch, according to the minutes of the meeting issued on Feb 6.

He said the immediate cause of the accident was dilapidated condition of the highway built recently by the NHA, said the sources.

The chief minister had directed the authorities concerned in the wake of the tragic accident to take up the issue with the NHA as well as the National Highway and Motorway Police (NH&MP) about overloading of passengers in buses and timely repair and maintenance of highways so as to make people’s lives safe on roads.

The meeting was informed that N-5 was the main artery of NHA, which connected Karachi with different parts of the country but 70 per cent of it was still under construction from Kambo Shaheed in Ghotki to Hyderabad, causing frequent accidents on this of the highway.

But the NHA official claimed the bypass had been constructed only six months before the fatal accident took place. The rectification work of the five-kilometer stretch started on Nov 22, 2014, which completed on Dec 17, he said.

“The construction of highways is being carried out by NHA with all provisions as per specifications like signboards, cat-eyes etc,” claimed Mr Mustafa.

But the Sukkur commissioner who had visited the site immediately after the accident did not agree with the NHA official.

After the detailed discussion, the participants of the meeting decided that in future, the NHA would provide documentary evidence and technical details about repair of highways in Sindh to chief engineer of the department of works and services on a monthly basis.

The chief engineer would later submit the report to the chief secretary about the status of work in progress on highways, said the sources.

The meeting decided that Sindh police would challan overloaded vehicles before they entered the highways and asked the NHA to immediately repair damaged portions on the highways and install proper signboards, milestones, reflectors, cat-eyes etc. as per code.

The meeting also decided that the Motorway police should be provided sufficient number of patrolling vehicles and the latest device for DUI (driving under influence).

Besides, the NHA was asked to revise upwards rate of penalties on overloading and overcrowding. The participants proposed that both the provincial and federal governments should announce compensation of Rs1 million each for the heirs of the victims who died in the Thehri accident and Rs300,000 for the injured.

All divisional commissioners were directed to hold meetings each month to check condition of roads especially highways passing through their respective divisions.

The secretary of services and general administration and coordination, Ahmed Bux Narejo, who chaired the meeting observed that responsible agencies should act ‘sincerely’ for the betterment of people and urged officials of the NHA and NH&MP to ensure all measures like signboards, milestones, reflectors, cat-eyes etc necessary for safe driving on highways and motorways as per code and procedure were in place.

The official said: “From now on, monthly meetings will be convened in divisional headquarters, one by one, to monitor the progress being made for the sake of the safety on highways.”

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2015

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