Saturday, 18 MAY 2024 | PURNIMA BISHT | DEHRADUN
The Char Dham pilgrimage in Uttarakhand often becomes a perilous journey for many pilgrims and travellers due to drivers who are not trained enough to drive on mountainous roads and those who have a habit of violating traffic rules. The mountainous terrain is characterised by steep gradients, sharp turns and narrow roads that require drivers to exercise utmost skill and caution and strictly adhere to lane driving. The lack of proper driving skills and understanding of mountainous road conditions increases the accident risks as it can change a serene pilgrimage into a hazardous venture. According to the officials, most of the road accidents that occur on Char Dham routes involve drivers from plain areas. A pilgrim Tejas Dwivedy who recently visited Badrinath said that several factors can cause accidents on mountainous roads but violation of basic rules like sticking to a lane and not overtaking other vehicles on sharp turns is like intentionally looking forward to fatal accidents. He said, “In my experience, drivers from plain areas often underestimate the dangers of speeding on narrow and winding mountain roads. This reduces their ability to control the vehicle on sharp turns and steep slopes. The novice drivers also ignore basic rules like honking at blind turns and giving way to uphill traffic which can also result in collisions.” Another pilgrim named Kailash Bhandari said that he used to go to Char Dham shrines along with his friends by taxis from Delhi but they found the drivers from Haryana and Delhi-NCR a bit aggressive while driving on mountainous roads. He said, “These drivers used to speed up seeing an empty road if they found it broad enough to accommodate two four-wheelers. They also find it hard to stick to their lane on a narrow route. Our taxis had almost collided with two cars twice but the other drivers were quick enough to manage the situation. Now we book a local driver who is more patient and experienced, to drive us to Char Dham shrines.”Anand Pharswan of Chamoli who visited Badrinath last week said that the authorities should impose a penalty on rash driving on Char Dham routes. The traffic violations by such drivers often lead to fatal accidents that also severely affect locals too, he added. Talking about such practices, the nodal officer of Char Dham Yatra in the Transport department and the regional transport officer (Administration) Sunil Sharma said that the department asks the Transport departments of other States to give permits to drive on Char Dham routes only to eligible drivers. Besides this, the department has also deployed 20 enforcement squads on Char Dham routes to check such violations and penalise offenders accordingly. The deputy inspector general of police (Crime, Law and Order) and nodal officer of Traffic for Char Dham Yatra, P Renuka Devi also said, “It is not possible to deploy personnel on stretches of every route but the authorities have installed signage boards at vulnerable points. The police also have been raising awareness on Char Dham routes through the public address system to drive safely and follow the basic driving rules.”
