Ranchi: Ramgarh deputy commissioner B. Rajeshwari held a meeting with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials on Tuesday with a request to undertake special studies to find out the reasons behind regular accidents at Chutupalu valley.
The valley, around 2km from Ramgarh toll plaza, has witnessed a number of accidents ever since the four-lane 100km Ranchi-Ramgarh-Hazaribagh was opened to traffic in 2011. A Ramgarh police officer said he sees at least four minor and major accidents every week.
A number of hairpin bends and tricky slopes make the stretch one of 16 accident-prone "black spots" identified by the state government and National Road Safety Council.
The Ramgarh deputy commissioner could not explain why accidents couldn't be curbed on the stretch. But she said that they would soon hold special campaigns on road safety among bus and truck drivers.
Rajeshwari said she had asked NHAI to undertake a fresh study of gradients and suggest corrective measures.
"NHAI will conduct a gradient study and take remedial measures. In the past, we put up road rumblers at key points and erected cautionary boards. But unless people cooperate nothing can be done. I also concede that we haven't been able to devise a proper mechanism to curb speeding," she said.
NHAI project director A. K. Singh said that sometime in March, they had sent a proposal to their headquarters in Delhi to widen a portion of the road in the valley.
"The road is currently 7.5m wide on each side. We propose to increase the Ranchi-Ramgarh side by 3 meter more. We are waiting for a nod," he said, but ruled out any engineering fault on the highway stretch.
He cited rash driving as the primary reason behind accidents.
"There are slopes while driving towards Ranchi. So momentum of vehicles will be more. But drivers often switch off the ignition to save fuel. Then, in case of emergency, the brakes don't work. The oil tanker that met with an accident on Monday morning was doing the same," he said.
Singh said visibility was not a problem on the road, except where there were sharp bends. "There are similar road stretches in other parts of the country with even more dangerous valleys, but there, accidents don't occur," he opined, adding that NHAI had put up at least 70 boards mentioning a speed limit of 40km/hr.
