Waris Fayaz
Sopore, Feb 11: The road dividers across north Kashmir’s Sopore town have turned out to be a reason of accidents during evening hours as the authorities have failed to ensure proper reflectors on the dividers with the locals demanding the concerned higher ups to take immediate steps in this regard.
The locals said that the road dividers without reflectors have caused at least five accidents within a week and hundreds of such incidents have been witnessed in the past as well.
The road dividers across the town, as per the officials, were built to ease and streamline the vehicular traffic; however, the locals alleged the dividers are not less than a death trap as these dividers without reflectors are leading to the frequent accidents during evening hours.
While urging the administration to ensure the reflectors over dividers, the locals said that most of these accidents occurred as the vehicles ram over it due to low visibility or the absence of streetlights. They said that scores of people have also suffered injuries in the accidents.
“The installation of reflectors is the need of the hour as it would help drivers to notice the road dividers from a distance and help in preventing road accidents,” the residents said.
The people coming from other parts of Kashmir to the Apple town often become a victim of the administration’s apathy, as they are not well-versed with such issues, said Mudasir Ahmed, a local resident.
Pertinent to mention here, that in the year 2021 – Wular Foundation, a Sopore based Non-Profit organizations and Sopore Media Fraternity took the initiative and installed reflectors on streets, dividers and turning points across the town to prevent road accidents, but the reflectors got either damaged or were stolen by the unknown persons.
The residents as well as the transports urged the administration for their immediate intervention in this regard to avoid the accidents. They added that the authorities must identify the accident prone spots across the town and take necessary measures.
