The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the tragic road accident in Rajasthan’s Phalodi district in which at least fifteen persons were reportedly killed after a tempo traveller collided with a parked truck on the Bharatmala Expressway near Phalodi.A Bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi will hear the case on November 10.
According to reports, the accident occurred near Matoda village when a tempo traveller carrying pilgrims from Sursagar in Jodhpur to Bikaner’s Kolayat temple crashed into a stationary trailer truck. The tempo traveller was reportedly travelling at a high speed when its driver lost control after failing to notice the parked truck in the darkness.
The vehicle rammed into the truck with such impact that it was completely mangled, trapping several passengers inside. Reportedly, the rescuers comprising police personnel, local residents, and passing motorists faced great difficulty in retrieving the bodies and rescuing the injured.
The bodies were sent to the mortuary of the government hospital in Osian, while the injured were first treated there before being referred to Mathura Das Mathur Government Hospital in Jodhpur. One of the injured persons reportedly succumbed to injuries while being taken to Jodhpur.
The Supreme Court’s intervention comes amid growing concerns about road safety and the implementation of expressway regulations under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, a centrally funded highway development initiative.The Court is likely to examine the circumstances of the accident, including road design, vehicle safety and enforcement of speed and lighting regulations along expressways. The matter will be taken up for hearing on November 10.
The Rajasthan High Court has already taken suo moto cognisance of recent accident deaths in the state and sought a preliminary response from the government detailing the steps taken for improving road safety.The division bench of Justice Anuroop Singhi and Justice PS Bhati cited right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, and asserted that recent events have compelled them to emphasise the urgency of road safety.
In Jaisalmer, an AC-sleeper bus caught fire killing 26 people last month. This week, a tempo traveller-truck collision in Phalodi killed 15 people and in Jaipur, a rashly driven dumper truck ploughed into at least over a dozen vehicles, leaving 15 people dead.
The bench also directed the counsels representing the department of Medical & Health, Revenue, PWD, Local Bodies, Home, Transport and NHAI, along with the additional solicitor general and additional advocate general to furnish their stand on the issue of road safety and public safety involving their departments, with particular reference to the untimely deaths that have occurred.
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