Last Sunday, an autorickshaw carrying 11 persons crashed into an electricity pole in Chintapalli mandal in Visakhapatnam Agency. Five tribals were electrocuted, while six others including three children suffered grievous injuries.
In the First Investigation Report (FIR) registered by the A. Annavaram Police Station, overloading was cited as the main reason behind the accident. The autorickshaw was supposed to carry only four people including the driver.
Overloaded jeeps and autorickshaws carrying people way beyond their capacity is a common sight in Agency areas. While a typical autorickshaw carries up to 12 people, a jeep carries over 30 people with many sitting atop the vehicle.
Such vehicles are difficult to control, as the excess load not only affects the balance of the vehicle but also eats into the driver’s space and compromises manoeuvrability, said Araku Inspector Koteswara Rao.
Reasons
The reason behind the overloading of vehicles is the lack of other means of transport in interior areas of the Agency. Vehicles like jeeps and autorickshaws are also in great demand, hence the overloading.
While lack of public transport is one aspect, the other factor is that a large part of the Agency area is not covered by roads.
The total extent of Visakhapatnam Agency is around 6,200 sq. km., and it is home to about 3,600 tribal hamlets. Of them, close to 1,100 villages lack any form of connectivity and another 500 villages are connected by ‘kuccha’ roads, where only these vehicles ply.
People residing in these villages trek for 5 to 20 km to reach a road point to travel to the mandal headquarters or a bigger village.
This is said to be the main reason why the tribals choose to hop on to the overloaded vehicles, with the drivers too not hesitating to pick them up despite being aware of the risks, just to make a few extra bucks.
Unique topography
The topography of Visakha Agency is unique. It is covered with lush green forests, with streams criss-crossing the valley and is dotted with hills of the Eastern Ghats. The entire Agency area is perched 900 to 1300 m above sea level, and after every few km of plain roads, one would encounter a ghat road stretch varying from 2 to 10 km in length.
The ghat roads comprise sharp bends and steep gradients and most of the accidents occur on these stretches, as the drivers lose control near the bends and gradients and either skid off the road or overturns, said Visakhapatnam Superintendent of Police Attada Babujee.
The connecting roads cut through hills and are single-track roads. The conditions are bad and they become even more dangerous after rains. Slush from the hillocks flows freely on to the roads, turning them slippery. The roads are filled with potholes and there is no lighting or radium-coated markings.
Maoist threat
Though the Central Government has sanctioned a few hundred crores for construction of roads under the tribal sub-plan for all Left Wing Extremist (LWE)-affected States, much work needs to be done as Maoists have always thwarted attempts to build roads.
"Roads are the main source of connectivity, which can directly impact development. Maoists always tried to disrupt the process by burning or blasting the construction equipment and threatening contractors. But despite that, we are now progressing well," he said.
According to him, about 60 roads and four bridges have been proposed to connect interior villages with the trunk roads and work in some areas has already begun. Around 453 km of roads will be laid at a cost of about ₹417 crore.
Drunk driving
Another issue of concern for the law enforcement agencies is curbing drunk driving. Unlike in Visakhapatnam city, where there are sufficient checks and enforcements to rein in drivers driving under the influence of alcohol, there are no such measures in the Agency area, as security forces are primarily engaged in containing the Maoist threat.
Most of the drivers are addicted to either alcohol or ganja and drive in an inebriated condition, which has been a major reason behind the accidents.