Road accident in AJK kills two, injures five

MUZAFFARABAD: The broken-down roads in Azad Jammu and Kashmir claimed two more lives late on Tuesday, raising question of affixing responsibility for the misuse of development funds.

Two people were killed and five others injured when a car swerved off the road and fell into a ravine near Batmang area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday evening.

According to the police, the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle at a sharp turn on the outskirts of Batmang. The car fell into a deep ravine killing two passengers on the spot while five others were severely injured.

Police shifted the deceased and the injured to Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Hospital Muzaffarabad. The dead were identified as Zaheer Ahmed and Chan Zeb.

Meanwhile, doctors at the hospital declared the condition of two injured as critical.

The police report regarding the mishap states that the driver lost control of the car apparently due to poor road conditions.

It is worth noting that road accidents are common occurrence in AJK. No action has been taken to prevent the loss of lives caused by the dilapidated sate of the roads.

According to officials, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Road and Communication Department consumes billions of rupees annually, yet the 10-kilometer-long Muzaffarababd- Batmang road remains full of potholes and cracks.

They said that more than 90 per cent of the AJK budget is spent on meeting non-development expenditures of the government officers and ministers. Corruption and misuse of funds are the also among the reasons behind the dilapidated roads due to which more than 300 people to die in accidents annually.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2017.