Madhya Pradesh: Indore - Icchapur State highway; Poor road quality, rash driving blamed for rising number of mishap

Sanawad (Madhya Pradesh): Indore-Icchapur State Highway (SH) has earned the sobriquet of ‘killer highway’ owing to rising number of casualties and fatalities every year.

Most deaths are blamed on traffic congestion and chaos due to narrowness of road, poor construction quality and speeding public transport vehicles/ buses.

MLA Sachin Birla has written a letter to State minister of Revenue and Transport Department Govind Singh Rajput apprising him of poor road quality. In the letter, it was stated that public passenger vehicles stop in inappropriate areas to pick up passengers, which results in heavy traffic.

Besides, RTO should maintain a margin of 15-20 minutes while granting permit to public buses travelling between Indore and Khandwa to prevent road accidents.

Transport department should check these public buses for overloading, licence, fitness and permits every six months and take legal action against violators.

In an accident reported on January 15, three passengers were killed and eight were severely injured after a passenger bus moving from Khandwa to Indore met with an accident near Barwaha village of Khargone district.

Sanawad Nagar Vikas Sangharsh Samiti, convener Zakir Hussain demanded improvements in highway safety and curb on speed of public buses running. He warned of mass demonstration if the demands were not fulfilled.

Meanwhile, MP Gyaneshwar Patil expressed grief over recent bus accident and assured of a detailed investigation. He also instructed officials concerned to step up safety measures to prevent road accident deaths on the highway. 

The work of converting the highway into four-lane road will be expedited, he added.