Shimla: Forty five persons were killed and another five injured when an private bus traveling from Kotighat to Shimla lost control near Kufri and went rolling 600 meters down into the valley at about 10.30 on Tuesday morning.
The injured, most of them in a critical state have been admitted to IGMC hospital in the capital.
With the driver being among the dead, RM Sharma, district police chief said, it was difficult to ascertain the cause of the accident. He said, “45 people died in the accident and five have been injured.”
Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal who visited both the accident spot and the injured in the hospital said that an inquiry would be made into the accident cause.
Expressing grief at the human loss in the tragedy, he asked the administration to provide immediate relief to the next of kin of the dead and the injured in the accident and announced financial assistance of Rs. 50 thousand each to kins of the deceased.
Horticulture minister Narender Bragta left his engagements at Solan to rush to the spot and supervise operations.
Governor, Smt. Prabha Rau, expressed grief over the accident and prayed for peace to the departed souls and strength to the bereaved family members to bear the irreparable loss.
A detail list of the deceased in the accident:
1.) Krishan Chand Kanthala s/o Shyam Nand, Village Damaour, P.O. Narkanda, Tehsil: Shimla
2.) Mohan Lal Bhardwaj s/o Parmanand Bhardwaj, vill. Batawada, Teh. Kumarsain
3.) Suresh Kumar s/o Prem Lal, Vill. Bharana, The. Theog (22 years old)
4.) Avdesh s/o Surya Narayan, Vill. Premghat, Teh. Theog
5.) Sushil Kumar c/o Ganda Mul, Theog (20 years)
6.) Naresh Kumar s/o Devki Chand, Narkanda
7.) Rajiender s/o Kamal Dev, Vill. Janog Ghat, Teh. Gopalganj, State: Bihar
8.) Kamleah Chauhan d/o Baldev, Vill. Badagaun, Kumarsain
9.) Pradeep Kumar s/o Duni Chand, Vill. Bhuna P.O. Kangal, Teh. Kumarsain
10.) Laxmi Kanthal w/o Tara Chand, Vill. Dumod, P.O. Narkanda, Kumarsain
11.) Smt. Draupada w/o Guddu, Vill. Janedghat, Chail, Solan
12.) Harinand s/o Balanand, Vill. Ujed, Narkanda, Teh. Kumarsain
13.) Prem Sukh, Camula, Chakkipul, Kumarsain
14.) Smt. Mamta w/o Mohan Lal, Batavada, Kumarsain
15.) Vivek Bali s/o Bal Krishan Bali, Chamola
16.) Yoga Nand Bali s/o Uttam Ram, Aahar, Banoli
17.) Joginder (Driver) s/o Rama Nand, Kathala, Kewali (26 years)
18.) Smt. Chand w/o Subhash Chand, Batawada, Kumarsain
19.) Smt. Gangi Devi w/o Govind Ram, Latyana, Shilaroo, Shimla
20.) Smt. Fuli Devi w/o Jeet Ram Shyam, Paalvi, Shilaroo, Shimla
21.) Prakash Chand s/o Atama Ram, Shanel, Badagaun, Theog
22.) Shantisawroop s/o Tulsi Ram, Badagaun, Kumarsain
23.) Smt. Krishana w/o Brijlal, Kandyali
24.) Brijlal s/o Kewal Ram, Kandyali
25.) Durga Das s/o Alam Ram, Kumarsain
26.) Nariender Kanwar, s/o Amar Singh, Kiara, Theog
27.) Chetan s/o Gopi Chand, Chamola, Kumarsain
28.) Jeet Ram Shyam s/o Amar Dutt, Pawli, Theog
29.) Diwana Chand s/o Ram Lal, Ghasni, Kangal, Kumarsain
30.) Naresh s/o Devikinand, Badagaun, Kumarsain
31.) Kamla Devi wife Ratan Das Dogra, Gullu, Theog
32.) Ramji s/o Basudev, Theog
33.) Tara Chand s/o Late Shyamnand, Damod, Kumarsain
34.) Parasram s/o Shyam Nand, Damod, Kumarsain
35.) Lal Singh s/o Leela Das, Thaatal, Dharknandru, Theog
36.) Durga Nand s/o Mansukh, Bhuna, Kangal, Kumarsain
37.) Pinki aka Lok Chand s/o Mansukh, Damai, Kangal, Kumarsain
38.) Mrs. Yadav w/o Naresh Yadav, Hiranagar, Gurgaon, Haryana
39.) Ghanshyam s/o Balak Ram, Khumada-Hathiya, Kangal, Kumarsain
40.) Rajeev Kumar s/o Jeet Singh, Dhareen, Kathog, Theog
41.) Nihaal Chand s/o Totu Ram, Bhamnoli, Nankhari
42.) Anil s/o Jagat Ram, Darog
List of the injured:
1.) Dayal Singh s/o Shaadi Ram, Kufarfayala, Dharbang
2.) Anita w/o Dayal Singh, Kufarfayala, Dharbang
3.) Nariender Dutt s/o Haru Ram, Cheyad
4.) Lalita d/o R.S.Thakur, Gullu, Theog
(Photos by: Amit Kanwar)
Raised in Shimla and originally from Mandi district, Disha wears many caps which includes being part of a lead team of a fast growing IT company based out of Chandigarh. Earlier Disha was associated with My Himachal and visits Shimla regularly.
It is very tragic incident leaving many families in trauma. The whole society is shocked by such incidents. Ministers, administrators rushing to spot distributing a fix amount and ordering a magisterial inquiry is a routine after such incidents. We all know the problems but forget everything till repetition.
Governments in any civilized societies have a primary obligation to safeguard the lives of its people and make and implement laws. But in our own country the main interest in governance is mainly limited to “big deals†only and not for such issues. We all understand the basic motive why people want to enter into politics. Lack of responsibility and accountability are the aberrations of our so called democratic system. That is why children keep on falling in bore wells and accidents like this happens repeatedly. The accident could have been averted, had some of the following measure had been taken.
1) It is the same spot where Dhamwari-Mashru bus met with an accident a few years back. The curves are deep and deceptive. I have seen this patch without tarring for the last few years. What are the reasons why Public works deptt. was unable to repair this 200 mt stretch?
2) Can’t we ban music system installation near driver’s seat and offer an alternative to play it another place convenient to conductor only. The complete ban is no answer when there is no conscious to abide by rules and machinery to check such rules.
3) The Bonut is used by the drivers is used as sitting place for near and dears. “gupp-shup†by the drivers while driving is a common scene and a big hazard to passengers. It should be mandatory to seal bonut region to avoid such a usage.
4) Speed limits should be monitored on roads to check competitive races for picking up passengers. The technology is very cheap and used world over. I wonder what our officers and beurocrates learn from west when they finance their official tours from public money.
5) Licensing should be made stricter based on written as well as the practical examination. People are not even served with a literature depicting road signs and rules, not to think about examinations. Influential class can easily provide licence to their domestic help for driving utility vehicles and thereby putting a question mark on road safety.
6) Talking on mobile phones while driving is a new road hazard not only to persons sitting in the vehicle but also to other vehicles on road. Everyone appears to be attending an SOS call. When common sense does not prevail, we have to be stricter in enforcing rules. I do not understand why government in Himachal is very soft on this front (due to good road conditions?), while it is checked strictly elsewhere. People may feel inconvenient in the beginning but it will help in maintaining better road safety in long run.
(Please Note: I have put my energy here only with a hope that anyone may be ready to accept some of the suggestions)
Once again one more fatal accident in the Hills Queen taking away many lives & leaving back many families in deep trauma.
But our Government officials are doing nothing except showing their grief & announcing money for the families who have lost their near & dear ones in this accident.
Due to the negligiance of one single person the accident took place taking away many lives.
Rash driving is to be said the main cause behind this accident. This is not for th efirst time such accident has happend but no strict actions have been taken.
Such Private operators sho
I belong to Kumarsain, form where most of the victims belongs to. Out of 45, 20 are going to a marraige. Whole families were wiped out. I pray to god that departed souls be in peace, and their family get strength to cope up with this trauma.
Also I support points raised by rakesh kumar sharma. many incidents in upper shimla occurs due to driver’s attention being diverted
Points raised by Mr. Rakesh are quite valid and the authorities need to come out from the slumber for at least some time now. I would like to add another a point to the above. RTO checking is just for name sake and what I have found is quite amazing. RTO checks happens for just name sake. There is a famous Travera of the transport deptt. which can be seen parked to the back side of RKMV after crossing Longwood. Private operators are supposed to deposit the nazrana to the deptt. and the one who fails to do so, this Travera has a list of buses with them, and only these buses are stopped.
I quote an incident, which happened once in front of me. I was traveling in a private bus to my village. As the bus started from Rivoli bus stand, a private local bus coming from the opposite end informed this driver that the Travera was parked behind RKMV. Immediatly the driver called up the owner and asked if the officials have been paid or not. After talking to the owner, the driver was still shifty. The conductor told me that the driver apprantely had no driving license to drive the bus, as the regular driver had gotton off at Theog while coming to Shimla in morning and gone back to his native village and this man was a stop gap arrangement to take bus till Theog where the regular driver was to drive back the bus to destination. As the bus crossed the Travera, the people sitting inside just glanced at the bus and let it go without any checking.
This is the state of working of the transport deptt which is busy collecting money and doing nothing. There are interceptors given to RTO to check speed of vehicles. I have never seen this vehicle on road. Once I was at Goyal Motors, to service my car and this vehicle also arrived for servicing. Once the vehicle was cleaned up, at least 10 empty bottles of booze were thrown out from this vehicle.
Everyone is busy making money on the cost of lives of innocent passangers who have been murdered by the apathy of the authorities. May peace be upon the departed ones!