Encroached by vehicles, NH carriageways kill more in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the ‘zero fatality week’ has turned into a week of devastating deaths and crippling injuries of road users across Odisha, the inability to clear encroachment of carriageways of major national highways by illegal parking of vehicles has emerged as the biggest culprit. On Friday, eight people died after the van they were travelling in hit a stationary truck parked on the highway in Keonjhar district. Within next 24 hours, two persons died after their car rammed into a stationary truck on NH-16 at Pahala area of the capital in the wee hours of Saturday.

Although the NH-16 is dotted with stretches where shops have lined up and parking of buses and trucks is rampant, there is clear lack of unanimity among state and Central agencies on how to address the issues. Besides, absence of truck bays and terminals at the key points have added to the crisis. The grave danger illegal parking of vehicles on highways poses can be gauged from the fact that accidents and deaths due to parked vehicles have increased significantly.

In 2022, 375 accidents took place due to parked vehicles which claimed 412 lives and left 325 people injured. In 2021, about 175 accidents were reported due to parked vehicles which claimed 187 lives and left 275 people grievously hurt. The glaring examples are Pahala, Jagatpur and Manguli (in Cuttack) as well as Chhatia (Jajpur) which have remained the most vulnerable stretches along NH-16 but the state government has not shown any alacrity.

Though the NHs are under National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), it is heavily dependent on state agencies such as Transport department, police or local administration for enforcement. Recently, the staff of Shree Jagannath Expressways Private limited, which operates the stretch of NH between Baramunda and Chandikhol, faced stiff resistance by rasagola shop owners in Pahala when they went to install metal beam crash barriers. The crash barriers would have acted as a partition between the area in front of the sweet shops which attract vehicular parking and the main carriageway.

However, the sweet sellers were reportedly opposed to the idea as they apprehended that the barriers would prevent footfall of customers since they would not be able to access the carriageway directly. A complaint in this connection was also lodged at Pahala police station. The illegal parking menace is worse in Manguli as a long queue of stationary trucks not only take up the service lane but also encroach lanes on the main carriageway.

As transporters do not have their own space, they park the trucks on the roads for loading and unloading purposes. Similar scenes can be noticed in Jagatpur and Chhatia. The NHAI had recently requested collectors of three districts – Khurda, Cuttack and Jajpur to remove illegal parking of trucks and other vehicles which has led to encroachments along NH-16.

It also flagged the issue of illegal shops near Tangi toll gate which led to a huge congestion of vehicles but to no avail. The blame game goes on after major fatalities. “We have provided highway patrolling vehicles to Odisha Police and empowered them under Motor Vehicles Act to fine and remove illegally parked vehicles,” said a senior official of Transport department.

The department recently also provided Rs 1 lakh each to all the regional transport officers to utilise crane services and remove abandoned and unattended vehicles from the highways and other roads. “In a recently held meeting, NHAI officials were asked to direct their patrolling teams to inform the police or Transport department if they notice illegal parking,” said the senior official. However, NHAI sources said, any attempt to clear such encroachment leads to a face-off which is why local police administration prefers status quo.

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