On November 7, a passenger bus travelling to Tulsipur from Khalanga fell nearly 200 metres from the road at Kharkhola in Kapurkot Rural Municipality-5 along the Rapti Highway, killing 12 people and injuring 29 others. A similar accident had occurred near Ramri along the highway two years ago, resulting in the death of 27 people, mostly students.

Road accidents along the highway that cuts through Karnali and Lumbini provinces are becoming more frequent but little has been done to make road travel safer for passengers.

The highway that came into operation in the fiscal year 1988/89 was blacktopped five years ago. But today, the blacktopped sections of the highway are riddled with potholes and uneven surfaces.

According to the District Traffic Police Office, the poor condition of the road coupled with human negligence, unserviced old vehicles and disregard for traffic rules lead to fatal road accidents along the highway.

“Public vehicles carrying passengers beyond their capacity has also led to the increase in road accidents along the highway,” said District Police Chief Govinda Thapa. “In the current fiscal year, 37 accidents occurred along the highway, in which 27 people lost their lives and 66 were injured.”

Kamal KC, a local resident, said that drivers and transport entrepreneurs, despite knowing the condition of the road and their vehicles, carry passengers beyond capacity to make extra money, leading to unsafe road journeys on the highway.

“The condition of the road isn’t getting any better and the blacktop has given way in many sections. The dry season turns the roads dusty and the monsoons leave them muddy,” said KC. “Both conditions are unsuitable for road travel. Additionally, overloaded vehicles and rash driving compound the danger further.”

District Traffic Police Office incharge Dipendra Kumar KC informed that most of the road accidents are reported from the Luhan-Kapurkot section of the Rapti Highway.

The local people who have witnessed several accidents along the highway say that the authorities’ inability to monitor the roads, vehicles and the drivers’ competency has resulted in frequent accidents in the area.

“The transport entrepreneurs send out vehicles not fit to be on the roads. The roads are bad and the poor condition of the vehicles only raise the chances of accidents,” said Nirmal Bohora, a local man. “The transport entrepreneurs do as they please and operate old vehicles along the highway while the traffic police stand and watch. The police and the authorities concerned have so far failed to monitor or take action against the transport entrepreneurs and the offending drivers.”

Rikesh Maharjan, engineer at the Road Division Office, Dang, said that the office has not been able to upgrade the highway as the government has not allocated sufficient budget.

“The blacktopping has been damaged in a majority of the road sections,” said Maharjan. “The highway could be a lot safer for travellers if the blacktopping is done.”

Meanwhile, in view of the rising number of road accidents, the District Traffic Office and the District Police Office have been conducting awareness campaigns targeting drivers and their helpers.

“We are conducting a 15-minute traffic awareness training for all vehicle operators travelling from Rukum and Salyan to Dang,” said traffic constable Khem KC. “We are stopping the vehicles at our office premises and giving awareness lessons to drivers, conductors and vehicle owners.”

Constable KC said that the police are monitoring the number of passengers in a vehicle and are taking action against vehicles carrying passengers beyond the seating capacity.