We cannot forget that dark night of 11 November, even the Supreme Court took cognizance

The city of Doon will probably never forget that dark night of 11 November, which extinguished the lights of six houses in a moment. The way the necks of two youths were cut and the shreds of their bodies were scattered all over the road after a speeding car collided with a container at 2 am at ONGC Chowk, had shocked everyone.

The speeding car of the youths was one reason for this horrific accident, but the bigger reason than that was the breakdown of the police night checking system. The car reached 10 km away passing through five police barriers in the middle of the city at a speeding speed, but the car was not stopped anywhere. If this car had been stopped during police checking, then perhaps this accident would not have happened.

Police did not show promptness

Now after the Supreme Court’s Road Safety Committee summoned a report from the government in this case, it is believed that not only will action be taken against the government machinery that is actually ‘responsible’ for this accident, but perhaps the government will also take such steps so that such incidents do not recur in the future. After this car accident, the government, district administration, police and transport department took different steps at their level, but the families of the six youths who became victims of untimely death will hardly ever be able to recover from this shock.

When the car that took the lives of six youths in this accident left Jakhan late Monday night at around 1 o’clock, it came down in the opposite direction, that is, towards the city. When an employee of Pacific Mall saw the car which had gained unbridled speed, he also informed the police, but the police did not show promptness. Then this car reached six km without any hindrance till the barricades of Canal Road, Dilaram Bazaar and Ghantaghar put up by the police, even though the car did not have a number plate.

From Ghantaghar, this car reached Ballupur Chowk barricading, three km away, but the car was not stopped here either. The car turned towards Garhi Cantt and met with an accident after travelling about 800 metres. The police and transport department were making lakhs of claims of night checking in the city, but this accident exposed the checking system of both.

The container was running without fitness since 11 years

The checking system of the police and transport department in Doon can be estimated from the fact that the container (HR-55-J-4348) that came in front of the car of the youth was running without fitness since the last 11 years.

The fitness certificate of the said container, registered in the name of BRC Logistics Private Limited in the RTO office of Gurugram on 12 August 2009, had expired on 16 August 2013, while the tax and insurance had expired on 31 March 2015.

The driver’s side front glass of the container was broken, it did not even have reflector tape or registration number plate. Despite being in a dilapidated condition, this container was running fearlessly on the roads of Doon.

115 CCTV cameras are out of order

Under the Smart City project, an Integrated Command and Control Center has been built at a cost of Rs 235 crore by laying a network of 674 cameras across the city. Even after this, currently 115 CCTV cameras are out of order in important areas for the last seven months.

This was also known when CCTV cameras were checked to see the location of the car after the ONGC Chowk accident. Not only ONGC Chowk, but 115 surveillance cameras across the city are out of order due to cables being cut due to digging at various places.

Now controlling late night parties

Doon is also known as an education hub due to the presence of many reputed boarding schools, colleges, universities and coaching institutes. Students from different states of the country come here to study, but some of these students lose their lives due to their own negligence.

The biggest reason for this is the passion for late night parties and long drives in Doon city. This has also been the real reason for the accidents that happened in the last few months. The police-administration has completely failed to control these causes of accidents, but after the accident of 11 November, on the instructions of District Magistrate Savin Bansal, all the bars in the city are being closed at 11 pm.

These accidents have also exposed the checking

• 4 May 2024: Five students lost their lives in Mussoorie

Due to the passion for late night parties and long drives, five students lost their lives when a car fell into a ditch in Mussoorie in the early hours of May 4 this year. All these students went out for a walk in a Ford Endeavour car at 2.30 am and while returning to Doon at around 5 am, the car overturned on another road several meters below on Jhadipani Road in Mussoorie. In this accident, four students and one girl student of a private university located on Mussoorie Road were killed, while one student was seriously injured.

• 17 May 2024: Four youths died

13 days after the Mussoorie car accident, on 17 May, four youths died in two separate accidents. Two bike riders died on the spot, while one was injured after being hit by a dumper near Dhulkot Dat Kali Mandir in Premnagar. On the same night, four friends riding two bikes collided with each other in a race to overtake each other on the Balliwala flyover, in which two youths died. One of these youths died due to falling down from the flyover.

• 11 October 2023: Army captain and friend died

In an accident that took place on 11 October-2023 in Hathibarkala, a posh area of ​​Doon, an Army captain and his friend died due to a car colliding with a container. Late night, both the friends were returning by car after a party and a long-drive when the car rammed into a container parked wrongly outside Centrio Mall.

A detailed investigation is underway into the causes of the car accident at ONGC Chowk. After this accident, the police have taken whatever steps can be taken to control accidents in the city. To strengthen the night checking system, checking is being done by placing barriers on every main road. Drivers are being checked with an alcohol meter and the police station and outpost police are also keeping an eye on the alternative routes. – Ajay Singh, SSP Dehradun