BHUBANESWAR: Even as illegal parking remains one of the major reasons for mishaps on highways, Bhubaneswar Police seems to have turned a blind eye to private bus operators who have gone on to occupy major stretches of NH-16 in the city for stoppages, sending traffic into chaos during peak hours of the day.
The buses not just move at a high speed but also halt abruptly on flyovers near Baramunda, Nabard office, in front of Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) in Acharya Vihar, Satsang Vihar, Palasuni and other areas posing grave risk to commuters and often leading to traffic jams. Sometimes, the bus drivers compete with each others to gain advantage of the location which leads to unruly scenarios on the road.
On the flyover near Acharya Vihar and on roads in Satsang Vihar and Palasuni, passengers wait by the NH to board buses to other cities. This continues 24X7 due to absence of enforcement on the stretches of the NH passing through the city. The problem near Satsang Vihar is multifold. Here apart from buses, cars and two-wheelers can be seen parked as people get down to buy fruits from a market nearby. The service road is of little use while the NH remains constricted by such action.
Not just buses, numerous trucks can be seen parked on the NH near Khandagiri. While the state government has been unable to enforce lane driving, keeping the flyovers and roads on NH free from parked trucks and buses halting to pick up passengers has become the need of the hour to prevent accidents.
What compounds the problem is traffic police has remained indifferent to the problems. At most of these points, the violations by buses and trucks are ignored while helmet and triple ride checking for challans get preference.
Last year, 11,663 accidents took place and 5,467 deaths reported in the state. State, national highways and expressways reported 2,648, 4,241 and 76 accidents respectively. Around 1,274 deaths were reported on state highways, 1,993 on national highways and 50 on expressways. Meanwhile, Traffic DCP Subash Chandra Mohanty said enforcement activities are being carried out regularly to check the buses do not halt on the NH.