     93 deaths, 648 accidents reported on Srinagar-Jammu NH: MoRTH
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said that around 648 accidents and 93 deaths were reported on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway last year.
As per the official documents, the ministry said that the road closures due to landslides normally last a few hours only as National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has deployed quick response teams at vulnerable locations to remove slides and normalise traffic at the earliest.
About the facilities of trauma centres established near the accident prone areas on the highway, the ministry said that the medical aid posts had been constructed by NHAI on the recently completed projects and provision had also been made for construction of the medical aid post in the under construction projects.
About the steps being taken by the government to effectively minimise the incidents of road fatalities on the highway, the MoRTH said that in Srinagar-Jammu section of NH-44, of the 260 km length, four-laning on about 210 km – including 10 tunnels in a length of 21.50 km – had already been completed.
“Work of four-laning in the remaining 50 km including 6 tunnels (in 9.664 km length) and viaduct (6.02 km) is under progress, which is targeted for completion by August 2025,” the official document read.
The MoRTH said that after the completion of these tunnels and viaduct, the entire NH-44 would be mostly free from the effect of landslides and all weather connectivity would be ensured between Srinagar and Jammu.
“As part of the four laning work and improvement of identified black spots, additional signages, road marking, rumble strips, crash barriers, lighting crash barriers as well as improvement of junction have been provided at all critical identified accident prone sections for ensuring safety of road users and reducing the accident and fatalities. In addition to this, black spot rectifications works have also been undertaken at all identified stretches,” the MoRTH said.
About the collapse of any newly constructed tunnel due to environmental hazards on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the ministry said that no such collapse of newly constructed tunnel had occurred so far.
“However, an under construction audit portal had collapsed due to landslide on May 19, 2022, at Khooni Nallah location on Ramban-Banihal Section of the highway, causing casualty of 10 labourers,” the document read.
Meanwhile, the MoRTH said that the fatalities reported in accidents across India had increased by 4.09 percent from 2017-2021.
The MoRTH said that the number of fatalities reported in 2017 was 1,47,913, which had increased to 1,53,972 in 2021 across the country.
Surprisingly, the number of accidents reported in 2017 was 4,64,910 which reduced to 4,12,432 in 2021 across India.
“The ministry has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on education, engineering (both of roads and vehicles), enforcement, and emergency care,” the document reads
 said that around 648 accidents and 93 deaths were reported on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway last year.){kind=link}