BAHAWALNAGAR: Three people have died and four others were severely injured in three road accidents here during the last few days.

According to Rescue 1122 sources, the first incident happened near McLeod Ganj in which a loader rickshaw hit three brothers riding a motorcycle. Tahir, Pervaiz and Waseem were going to Haweli Lakha from McLeod Ganj. In the accident, Tahir, 25, died while the other two were said to be critical.

In the second incident, a loader rickshaw and a car collided on Qaziwala Road where rickshaw driver Sagheer, 18, died whereas the car driver was seriously injured.

In the third incident, a motorcycle and a car collided and the car fell into the Fordwah canal. Motorcyclist Ahmad, 20, died while a car rider was seriously injured.

Rescue sources said that six road accidents happened in August involving three motorcyclists and two loader rickshaws. In these incidents, eight people were injured and one elderly woman died.

From January to August 2020, 2,384 traffic accidents occurred in the district, and of them, 1,999 involved motorcycles and 314 motorcycle rickshaws.

According to rescue officials, the affected vehicles were being driven by unlicensed and inexperienced motorcyclists and rickshaw drivers.

Some traffic wardens said that in the district, more than 2,000 Chingchi and loader rickshaws are operating illegally. They provide pick and drop service to schoolchildren and passengers and are also used for cargo consignments.

The officials said many of these vehicles were driven by either underage or overage drivers and claimed that 90 per cent did not possess a license. They said that these inexperienced drivers caused traffic accidents and their vehicles were also in a poor condition.

They said that because of broken silencers, these vehicles cause noise and pollute the air with smoke.

They said that in all tehsils, illegal and temporary stands had been established by officials of the municipal committees or private people.

Traffic DSP Azmat Kamran said the rickshaw drivers’ union had filed a writ in the Lahore High Court regarding the paperwork and the court had granted them a stay. However, he said, that any driver without a driver’s license was issued a ticket.

He said the RTA secretary issued a fitness certificate for commercial vehicles and any vehicle on the road in a poor condition was RTA’s responsibility.

Mr Kamran agreed that a separate stand was needed given the growing number of rickshaws. He said that his office had sent a number of written requests for the purpose to the deputy commissioner’s office.

RTA Secretary Rana Mohsin said his office had never issued fitness certificates to those vehicles having paperwork issues like loader rickshaws as the excise department was to handle them.

The excise and taxation officer was not available for comment.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020