The negligence by the federal and provincial governments is taking a massive toll on the people’s lives
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world. During the period January-December 2013, as many as 4,672 people were killed and another 9,864 injured in 8,885 fatal accidents in the country. Thus, an average of 13 people die in road accidents on a daily basis. There are a variety of factors causing these serious accidents, such as poorly-maintained vehicles, reckless driving, lack of safety equipment, bad road conditions and ineffectiveness of the law-enforcement agencies. Sadly, the government has failed to take any concrete steps to control ever-increasing road accidents, and simply issues routine statements expressing sympathies with the families of those who die in accidents or sometimes announces monetary compensation for them. No preventive measure is taken to avoid future accidents. It is almost as if the authorities are waiting for another fatal accident to happen.
Of late, the Sindh government issued a public notice in newspapers, urging compliance with the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 and Motor Vehicle Rules 1969. All transporters/owners of bus/coach/van, etc. are “informed” through the notice to strictly follow the relevant rules, including installation of emergency gates, fire extinguishers, first aid boxes, etc., in their vehicles. One may ask why the authorities concerned could not effectively implement these rules and regulations in a time span of more than five decades? Would this ‘information’, in the absence of any further strictness on the part of the authorities, be of any significance to the transporters now? It is indeed a cruel joke with the people. On top of that, the public notice reads, “In case of violation of above rules and regulations the owners/transporters and drivers will be deemed responsible for any mishap.”
For how long will the public continue to suffer at the hands of administratively weak and incompetent governments? The negligence by the federal and provincial governments is taking a massive toll on the people’s lives. Unfortunately, their incompetence in the areas of civil administration is not crticised enough.
Hussain Siddiqui
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
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