A fatal tragedy has struck seasonal Bakarwal tribals, when a speeding load carrier on Friday (April 12) mowed down dozens of sheep and goats at Botate in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the report, the incident happened on Batote road in Ramban district when a shepherd carrying a flock of 25-30 sheep and goats hit by a speeding load carrier coming from Jammu and killed them on the spot.
An eyewitness has said that around 28 sheep and goats were crushed to death in the incident which took place in Batote.
The tribal community has suffered a major loss in lakhs.
According to a last year released report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), an alarming total of 4,287 lives were tragically lost due to road accidents from 2018 to 2022 in J&K.
The report reveals 984 lives were consumed by road accidents in 2018 while the figure was 996 in 2019. In Covid-19 hit years of 2020 and 2021, the numbers came down with 728 and 774 deaths respectively before, rising to 805 deaths in 2022.
A significant portion of the road fatalities in J&K were attributed to accidents on national highways, particularly in hilly Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban areas of Jammu region. The treacherous road conditions between Jammu to Srinagar and Jammu to Doda-Kishtwar have led to numerous accidents.
According to Firdous Tak, a PDP leader from the region, overloading, no crash barriers, bad roads and inadequate buses remain four prime reasons for frequent road accidents in hilly Doda-Kishtwar.
As per the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, J&K ranks second across India in the tally of 10,000 vehicles with an average of 900 deaths every year. The number of vehicles on roads in Jammu and Kashmir have increased by 100 per cent since 2014.
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