Khairpur accident: All eyes on the NHA

The road where the accident took place had developed faults five months after it was constructed.

SUKKUR: The Khairpur accident seems to have jolted the authorities out of their slumber and instilled in them a sense of responsibility to avoid such mishaps in the future.

The Sukkur commissioner held a meeting on Tuesday that was attended by officials of the National Highway Authority, the motorway police and the deputy commissioners and SSPs of Sukkur and Khairpur.



Sukkur commissioner Muhammad Abbas Baloch urged the officers to stop pointing fingers and perform their duties diligently. Baloch remarked that buses plying on the inter-provincial routes often over speed while the motorway police play the role of silent spectators. In particular, he pointed towards the buses plying between Punjab and Karachi which use the old highway from Khairpur to Shaheed Benazirabad, instead of using the national highway. This is a violation of their route permits, he added.

The commissioner pointed out that the lack of signboards and markings for diversions as well as rough driving on the part of the drivers were the major causes of accidents on the highway.

Baloch brushed off the excuses by the motorway police officials who claimed they lacked the resources to stop and check each vehicle. He urged them to do their jobs properly as the safety of the highway was their responsibility.

In his defence, the Sukkur Motorway Police SP Faisal Chachar said that the portion of the road where the accident took place had been constructed merely five months ago. Due to the use of substandard materials, however, the road had developed grooves and bumps, hindering the smooth flow of traffic and causing cars to skid out of control.

In the case of the ill-fated accident that claimed 59 lives, the vehicle had gone out of control after hitting a bump and had banged into the truck that was coming from the opposite direction.



SP Chachar revealed that 63 per cent of the road accidents on the N-5 occurred due to the diversions. Moreover, the absence of proper markings and signboards made it difficult for the drivers to negotiate a sharp turn or diversion ahead on the road. Heavy machinery obstructed traffic at several points of diversion, he said, adding that often the diversions were so uneven that heavy vehicles broke down or overturned when accessing them.

Faulty road

The newly-appointed general manager of the N-5 national highway, Shabbir Ali Shah, admitted that the portion of the road that had been constructed five months ago had developed faults. He added that the contractor had been ordered to renovate it at his own expense.

Shah claimed that the authority placed signboards well ahead of diversions but these were occupied by political parties who advertised their posters on the signboards. At this, the commissioner ordered the NHA authorities to remove all political advertisements from the signboards.

Inquiry committees

Meanwhile, the NHA has constituted four inquiry committees to investigate the Khairpur accident. A senior official of the authority, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that it was unfair to pin the whole blame for the accident on the NHA as the motorway police was responsible to control over-speeding and overloading. Speaking about the ill-fated passenger coach, he said that it was fined for over-speeding at Rahim Yar Khan and for overloading at Mirpur Mathelo. "What was the motorway police doing when the driver kept on over-speeding?" he questioned.

He claimed the motorway police often fine private vehicles but the public transport vehicles are rarely checked.  According to him, public transport vehicles are owned by influential persons, which is why the motorway police give them a free pass.

On the other hand, highway officials did not appear before the police on Tuesday, while the construction work at the highway, which was stopped a day earlier, resumed after a couple of hours. Meanwhile, a member of the NHA, Arshad Chaudhry, accompanied by other officials of the authority, surveyed the accident site.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2014.