HYDERABAD: The tragic bus accident at Kondagattu that claimed 61 lives recently was waiting to happen. The ongoing investigation into the worst-ever accident brought to light that since 2000 the specific road stretch near Jagtial has seen at least 11 accidents which claimed as many as 46 lives and left 47 persons injured.
Shockingly, that puts the total number of deaths in accidents, including the latest RTC bus tragedy, at 107, making it one of the worst ghat roads in the state. That is to say that in every accident that occurred on the Kondagattu road, at least nine people have died.
A perusal of the accident history on the steep stretch of 2 km by officials revealed that 80 per cent of the accidents occurred at the same location where the vehicles fell off the road. “The accidents particularly occurred while the vehicles were approaching the steep curve which had no crash barriers. The unscientific construction of the road was the major cause,” says T Krishna Prasad, director-general of Road Safety Authority (RSA).
Despite so many accidents having taken place on this particular road stretch, little has been done in the past 18 years to make the road safer. To control any further damage, authorities have set up a multi-department control room near the ghat road with officials from traffic police, health, roads & buildings and other departments. “A land near the accident site has been allocated for the control room from where a full-time team will operate. A coordinated effort has been initiated for the first time by various departments to ensure safe commuting on the road,” Krishna Prasad claims.
RTC advised to run mini-buses on ghat
TSRTC has been advised by the RSA to run only mini-buses on the specific stretch and to make an assessment test mandatory before operating buses on the Kondagattu road. Also, a monthly counselling session is now mandatory for drivers