District Road Safety Committee meeting held at Poonch

POONCH, February 11: A meeting of members of the District Road Safety Committee (DRSC) was today held here under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Poonch, Inder Jeet.

At the outset, ARTO, Basharat Mahmood briefed the chair about various road safety measures being taken in the district which include identification of black spots to prevent accidents, imposition of fine on violators and constitution of DRSC.

He also informed the chair about the agenda wise details of the work of the Road Safety Committee in the district.

The DC directed the engineering wing to take corrective action on identified black spots. He said that awareness activities must be taken up in schools and adjacent areas through already constituted road safety clubs. He said that road safety signs must be erected near all educational institutions to ensure the safety of students.

He also directed the Chief Education Officer to share the location data of all institutions that fall on major roads with the Transport department, R&B and Urban Local Bodies for action in this matter.

The engineering wing informed the chair that black spots identified previously have been appropriately modified. They also apprised that signages would be erected throughout the district.

Tehsildar Poonch and CEO Municipality also briefed the meeting regarding various measures taken for decongestion of the town.

The DC stressed on identification and positive interventions to reduce frequency of accidents in the district. He said that traffic, transport and health departments need to evolve an integrated plan to ensure that in case of an accident, all efforts must be made that medical help is provided to the victim within the golden hour.

The meeting was informed that 108 ambulance services shall be started on Mughal Road. The DC directed the CMO to share data on response time in all accidents that occurred last year.

He issued directions to ARTO and DSP traffic to start a drive against roadside parkings adding that adequate parking facilities have been made available in the district, penalties must be imposed on violators.

He also issued directions to the Chief Education Officer to inspect private schools and their transportation facilities. He said that fitness certificates of transportation vehicles of all such schools must be verified.

The DC made it clear that there shall be zero tolerance towards overloading. He said that especially in case of school buses, overloading endangers the life of students and heavy penalties must be imposed on violators as a preventive measure. He directed concerned people to submit a compliance report within a period of 10 days.

On the issue of overloading DC Poonch directed that more permits be issued on Hungry routes so that overloading can be controlled and employment shall also be generated.

Deputy Commissioner directed the ARTO, SO Traffic, Xen PWD and EO Municipality to check the Main Town and install Signage of NO Entry in the main market Poonch

Further AD Food was directed to conduct inspection of Petrol Pumps and check sanitary facilities round the clock. Further , it was decided that No petrol Pump Owner should sell the fuel to bike riders without Helmet and seat belt to vehicle owners.

The meeting was attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner Poonch, Tahir Mustafa Malik, Additional SP, CMO, CEO, Executive Engineers of R&B, PMGSY, OC Gref, SO Traffic , ARTO, CEO Municipality among others.