Police to conduct daily checking, says EJH DC
SHILLONG: Less than 24 hours after an ill fated bus ferrying passengers from Silchar to Guwahati met with an accident at Sonapur in East Jaintia Hills killing 29 people, the East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner has ordered the District police to check all night super buses to detect cases of drunken driving.
“I have ordered police to conduct checking every night to detect if bus drivers are drunk since drunken driving is the prime reason for most of the road accidents in the area,” said East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner W.R. Lyngdoh.
He also said if any driver or conductor is found to be drunk, they would be immediately detained.
The DC has also assured to look into the complaints of passengers that most of the roadside dhabas and eateries in and around Ladrymbai offer liquor to the bus drivers and conductors to boost their business.
The DC has also asked the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to put up barricades in the accident prone areas of NH 44 so that such fatal accidents can be minimized.
Reacting to a query on the status of the highway in and around Sonapur area, the DC said the NHAI is widening the road wherever land is available to the implementing agency.
He also said that the particular accident took place beyond the bridge and the NHAI would carry out widening work only till the bridge due to land acquisition hurdles.
“There are lots of issues like clearance for forest areas and so NHAI would only strengthen the existing road beyond the bridge where the road is very narrow,” he added.
He also said that the district administration has submitted the estimates of land compensation to the NHAI for the double lane project and the compensation would be released as soon as NHAI sanctions the fund.