By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government has come under fire for failing to arrest road accidents owing to drunken driving, while the system of conducting mobile court had become a matter of the past.
UDP legislator Ardent M Basaiawmoit said that it is sad to see the Government has not taken any serious steps to deal with drunken driving and over speeding of vehicles.
Even though the Home Minister claimed that the government was taking steps towards this end, members from all sides of the House said that nothing could be seen on the ground.
“We could still see intoxicated people are driving vehicles. There are still over-speeding vehicles on the road,” the UDP legislator said.
He further said that people are dying due to frequent road accidents as are being reported in the media every day.
He also pleaded for constitution of the Accident Tribunal which would allow the victims of the road accidents to seek compensation.
While expressing concern over the problem of drunken driving which put the life of the people under threat, Congress legislator
Ronnie V Lyngdoh went one step further in demanding that the Government should stop selling of liquor along the highways.
“By putting the wine stores on the road side, it is tempting for people to drink,” Lyngdoh said citing the example of the strings of wine stores in Khanapara area on the way to Assam.
He also suggested that the Government should have the breathe analyzer to detect drivers who had taken alcohol while adding that breathe analyzer would also indicate the amount of alcohol which has penetrate into the driver’s system.
Independent legislator Manas Chaudhuri complained that the mobile courts are not being held regularly unlike in the past.
“We would like to see police personnel doing random checking of vehicles for valid documents and this would be an effective method to check drunken driving,” Chaudhuri said.
In his reply, Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh however claimed that the State Government was already on the job and reeled off statistics to drive his point home.
On the demand for the Accident Tribunal, he said that the Government already has in place the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal which is actively functioning.
In 2009 alone 121 cases had been registered, Lyngdoh said, adding that a total amount of Rs 38.57 lakh had been disbursed in 27 of those cases.
He said that a total of 119 cases were registered in 2010, out of which 48 cases had been settled and Rs 1.19 crore had been paid as compensation.
Out of the total 246 cases registered in 2011, a total of 123 cases were settled and compensation worth Rs 1.09 crore had been paid, the Minister revealed.