SC chides NHA for frequent accidents on Jamshoro-Sehwan road

Highway authority waiting for 400, 500 people to die, remarks judge

KARACHI: Admonishing the National Highway Authority (NHA) for frequent traffic accidents on the portion of the Indus Highway between Jamshoro and Sehwan, the Supreme Court (SC) sought on Wednesday a detailed report on the design change of the road and protective measures being taken to reduce the frequency of accidents.

The hearing took place at the SC's Karachi Registry. Coming down hard on NHA Chairperson Jawad Rafique Malik, Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that he should feel ashamed of the construction of M9 Motorway. The vehicles move at a snail's pace on the road, the judge said, adding that cases would be registered against the authority's officers if even a single person died due to an accident on the highway.

A lawyer representing the petitioner argued that hundreds of accidents had taken place at the portion of the highway between Jamshoro and Sehwan. He blamed the NHA for the accidents, alleging that the authority had failed to take protective measures to stop accidents.

The apex court expressed anger over poor construction of the M9 Motorway. During a conversation with the NHA chairperson, Justice Ahmed remarked that the entire institution was corrupt. The bench remarked that it seemed that the authority was waiting for a major accident to take place and is not bothered about frequent accidents on the road.



The SC told the NHA chairperson that if anyone died on the aforesaid portion of the motorway, he would have to pay compensation from his own pocket.

The NHA chairperson informed the bench that the authority was trying to rectify mistakes in the motorway's design, prompting Justice Ahmed to say that the authority had not been doing anything because the situation would have improved had it taken any action. "You are waiting for 400, 500 people to die," Justice Ahmed retorted.

The apex court granted one month to the NHA to submit a detailed report on the change in design of the road and preventive measures.

The motorway's 132-kilometre stretch between Jamshoro and Sehwan records an unusually high number of accidents apparently due to a single lane and sharp curves on the road. In August last year, the Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the NHA, Motorway police, police of Jamshoro and Nawabshah districts and the regional transport authority to stop movement of heavy vehicles on this part of the road.

Four accidents were reported on the road last Sunday, in which at least six people lost their lives and around 16 were injured.