125 Died in Road Accidents in 8 Months in Tripura

Agartala, Sep 20 : As many as 125 people died in road accidents in Tripura over the past eight months while 350 people received serious injuries, an official report said here today.

Leading public transport advocacy group of Tripura ARPAN has blamed inefficient traffic management and unprecedented increase in the number of personal vehicles, coupled with encroachment of road space for the accidents.

Problems such as inadequate parking space, improper traffic management, poor public transportation system, lack of walking space for pedestrians were being faced, but no steps were taken for enhancement of road capacity, capacity building of existing public transport system, development of new bypass roads as arterials to decongest the city.

''Due to faulty policy of the government and weak public transport system in the state, every day ten two-wheelers and cars are registered in Agartala and as a result, traffic volume has exceeded the designed capacity on more than 80 per cent of roads,'' ARPAN officials said.

Over 50 per cent of the existing road capacity has deteriorated either due to encroachment or poor maintenance, they said.

The organisation had suggested for penalising both passengers and carriers who pick up or drop from any random places and carry passengers beyond capacity.