Roads being used as godowns; Healthcare worker dies in Rangirkhari meeting a road mishap

Another road mishap in Silchar, and another death. This time, Dibyajyoti Nath (55) – a health worker by profession, lost his life after his bike collided with a truck in Sonai Road, near Rangirkhari Police Outpost on Friday night. Deceased Dibyajyoti Nath was serving as a laboratory technician in Silchar Civil Hospital. The accident took place while he was returning from duty on Friday. No one witnessed the accident in real-time; the bike and fatally injured Dibyajyoti Nath were lying on the road after the accident. The killer truck was able to escape from the spot after the collision, raising the question of road safety in Silchar. Police from Rangirkhari station rushed to the site after getting the information and took Dibyajyoti Nath to Silchar Medical College, from where he was declared medically dead.

Roads and streets are narrow in Silchar compared to vehicles and population; roads are also very congested. And stockpiling, loading, and unloading of concrete, sand, brick, paver blocks and other building materials are very common in Silchar. Visuals have shown that there were such stockpilings on the road where the accident took place on Friday.

The number of road traffic accidents and fatalities in these cases is seeing a steep rise these days. Roads are becoming very insecure. India accounts for 11% of deaths due to road traffic accidents globally. The year 2020 saw an unusual decline in death in road traffic accidents, probably because of prolonged lockdown and movement restriction, but now the numbers are growing again. Dumper trucks are involved in many of the fatal accidents in Barak Valley. These trucks are found to be over speeding most of the time.