3 dead and 23 grievously injured in a fatal GMOU bus accident

Uttarakhand is unfortunately poised for fatal accidents every third-day taking tolls of peoples’ life in large numbers.

The roads and highways are jammed due to increasing landslides during the monsoons and the carelessness of drivers including the overcrowding of buses illegally for earning money by conductors result in several fatal accidents.

The transport department officials and employees’ ignorance and internal collaboration with untrained drivers and conductors is also the reason leading to the rise to these fatalities.

One such tragic accident of a Garhwal Motor Unions Bus falling in a gorge over 100 feet below was reported on Baijro, Sanglakoti Satpuli road near Seela Kabra village in Pauri Garhwal district on 9th July today, killing three persons on the spot and injuring several others grievously.

The bodies of the dead have been retrieved by the police with the help of the locals after great efforts while the injured have been admitted to the Satpuli govt hospital and another private hospital run by a charitable trust namely Hans Foundation of Bholeji Maharaj and Mataji Mangla Rawat.

The reason for the fatal accident according to the news reports pouring in was the quarrel between the driver and the conductor which continued till the accident spot having started from Baijro, the starting point of the travel.

While the quarrel between both the driver and the conductor was on, the driver used to look back in order to reply to the conductor thus losing the control and finally falling in a deep gorge at 1.00 PM near Sanglakoti after covering seven kilometers distance from Baijro.

The road was slippery and muddy. Due to the heavy rain and fog, the accident was noticed after 45 minutes at an isolated spot.

There were in all 24 passengers traveling in the GMOU bus. All the injureds have been ferried to hospital in private vehicles and some 108 ambulances which rushed to the accidental spot after some time.

The deads are Niharika, 14 years old and Parminder of Kotdwara, Pauri Garhwal district while 48-year-old driver Vinod Bahuguna who too was from Durgapuri Kotdwar died on the spot after suffering grievous injuries.

The district magistrate Dheeraj Singh Gabriyal and the SSP Dilip Singh Kunwar reached the accident site and made necessary arrangements for the treatment of the injured. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the whole episode.