On deadly mountain roads, overloaded vehicles adding to avoidable deaths

Dehradun: A day after 13 people were killed when the utility vehicle they were travelling in — crammed with passengers far beyond its capacity — fell into a gorge near Dehradun, the incident has again put the spotlight on the menace of overloaded vehicles navigating treacherous mountain roads, risking lives.

The Chakrata-Tyuni route — the site of Sunday’s accident — lacks a well-connected public transport network, leaving passengers at the mercy of private-cars-turned-utility-vehicles which have found ways to tamper vehicle specifications to fit in more passengers.

“Some drivers have changed the seat alignment in their cars. For instance, instead of horizontal seats, vehicles have vertical seating where passengers sit face-to-face,” a local driver on condition of anonymity told TOI, admitting that this could affect the vehicle’s balance, but that “they do it anyway since it means more money”.

Another driver on the route, Neeraj Negi, however, said drivers were not the only ones at fault. “Drivers, too, die in case of an accident. It is the passengers who plead and put pressure on us to accommodate them,” he said.

Local residents said that in the absence of public transport, they are forced to risk their lives and board crowded vehicles. Surveer Singh, village pradhan of Banyana village (Chakrata) said, “There have been several accidents in the past, but nothing has been done by the authorities. The villagers are dependent on utility vehicles as they provide last-mile connectivity which buses don’t.”

On October 22, six members of a family travelling on the route had died after their car fell into a gorge. In June, 2019, six of a family, including a CISF inspector, had lost their lives. In 2017, after a private bus going from Vikas Nagar to Tyuni met with an accident, killing 45 people, the then-CM Trivendra Rawat had announced setting up of a mini bus depot in Kalsi but that remained on paper.

Sushil Niranjan ARTO (Vikasnagar), who visited the accident site on Monday, told TOI that the “driver’s carelessness was to be blamed for the incident”. “The vehicle was carrying 15 passengers against its capacity of up to eight.”

Sandeep Saini RTO (enforcement) added that a crackdown would be initiated against overloaded vehicles. “Strict checking will take place. We are also planning to put in a request for increasing the number of buses on the route.”

Uttarakhand Transport Corporation general manager Deepak Jain told TOI that five roadways buses are operating on the route. “We are making efforts to increase the number of buses but it’s difficult to deploy more buses immediately,” Jain said.