BackA tragic accident took place between a Karachi-bound bus coming from Swat and a truck near Theri bypass, Khairpur Sindh in the early hours of Tuesday, November 11, 2014 that claimed the lives of 57 passengers including the driver and injuries to 21 others. Federal Ombudsman of Pakistan, Salman Faruqui took suo moto notice of the issue and constituted an inquiry committee to 1) probe into the causes leading to the fatal accident, 2) fix responsibility and 3) make recommendations to avert the possibility of recurrence.
The inquiry committee found that criminal negligence and dereliction of duty by not ensuring that signs/reflectors were placed on the road at the correct spots by the concerned contractor to warn drivers of a dangerous hump on the road stood established on the part of the National Highway Authority (NHA) and National Highway and Motorway Police. The bus hit the hump on the road which was created as a roadblock to divert traffic. The sudden impact upon hitting the hump caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and the bus ended up on the northern side of the road where it collided with a north-bound truck.
Penalties recommended by the committee are as follows:
- The contractor be blacklisted
- Compensation to the tune of Rs. 200,000 to family of each deceased person and Rs. 100,00 to each injured passenger be granted and the same be recovered from the contractor or funds for the purpose be arranged by NHA
- Disciplinary action be taken against all officials involved
Remedial measures and recommendations to avert possibility of such accidents in future have also been made, inter alia, as follows:
- Media should raise public awareness on the importance of compliance with legislation, etc.
- Speed laws should specify a maximum urban speed limit
- Road planners should adopt effective traffic management measures.
- Health agencies should ensure development of effective emergency medical services etc.
- Road engineers and highway authorities should improve the safety performance of the road network
- The training of the drivers should develop a high standard of driver training, instruction and professionalism
- To help avoid fast deterioration of the road network strict implementation of Axle load Management Regime be enforced
- Short, medium and long term plans be developed for upgrading the road infrastructure
- Issues relating to capacity building of Contractors and Consultants be addressed
- A monitoring authority for motorways and highways be established with the mandate to ensure that internationally accepted bare minimum quality standards are implemented
Source: Federal Ombudsman, PAKISTAN
