By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 13 Dec: The State and the District Administrative system continue to function in an arbitrary manner. Days after one of the newly constructed speed breakers around the Clock Tower caused seven accidents, it has been finally demolished today. Just, yesterday, in another knee-jerk reaction to some media reports, this newly constructed speed breaker had been painted white to enable the drivers and the riders to see it. Of course, even yesterday, no warning signal had been put up but, today, the district administration decided to demolish the speed breaker in question.
Dehradun has recently been at the centre of a heated discussion over speed breakers for the past four days. A dangerously constructed speed breaker, built overnight near the Clock Tower had caused multiple road accidents shortly after its construction. In response to some media reports, the administration marked the speed breaker with white paint yesterday but, now, in another sudden move, the district administration has demolished and repaired it, reducing its height significantly.
It may be recalled that several speed breakers have been recently constructed in the capital on the direction of District Magistrate Savin Bansal. The district administration has also claimed that several other road safety improvement works are being undertaken. This development had been witnessed in the wake of a tragic accident on 11 November at ONGC Chowk in Dehradun in which 6 youngsters had lost their lives, allegedly due to speeding at the speed of 150 kilometres per hour at the time of the crash. This accident had sparked a wide debate over the road safety issue. In what can be called as a knee-jerk reaction, the district administration and the local Police undertook some measures including installation of speed breakers ostensibly prevent speeding. However, construction of many of these speed breakers was carried out without adherence to the mandatory specifications and norms. Some of the speed breakers were found to be extra bumpy and not only this, no warning signals had been installed before the speed breakers, which resulted in multiple accidents in a single day.
Videos of these accidents circulated widely, prompting public outrage and raising questions about the quality of work by the concerned departments. When this was highlighted by the media, Secretary, PWD, Dr Pankaj Pandey issued a notice to the engineers concerned, seeking their explanation regarding what had prompted them to construct speed breakers and on whose orders were these constructed without following the safety norms. Subsequently, the district administration, led by District Magistrate Savin Bansal, took swift action. In a statement, the District Magistrate clarified that the speed breakers near the Clock Tower were constructed under the Smart City project, but the construction did not meet prescribed standards. As a result, their height has been reduced to ensure safety.
