A 67-year-old man died in a vehicle accident in Paro on Sunday. The accident occurred at around 5:30 pm near Shaba Middle Secondary School. The alto car, the deceased was driving, collided head on with a Prado.
The deceased along with three passengers including a child were travelling to Paro from Phuentsholing. One passenger is recovering at the Paro hospital while the child and the other passenger have been referred to the National Referral Hospital in Thimphu.
Why accidents occur?
Travelling on the Thimphu Paro highway has become much comfortable after road widening was carried out. But accidents along the highway, particularly in Isuna, are becoming a concern.
Just a few weeks ago two men died after the Hiace bus they were travelling in skidded on the ice and rammed on a cliff. Recently another accident occurred but fortunately no one was injured. Last year one accident took place in the area and the year before 12 vehicles met with an accident all at a time. The cause of all these accidents according to the police is skidding on the ice.
“About two to three weeks ago an accident occurred and when we went to check we found the water from the field has overflowed and spilled on to the highway. Since its cold at night it has turned into ice and the vehicle has skidded on the ice and had an accident. Recently also when an accident occurred we found it was due to skidding on the ice,” said Captain Wangyal Dorji, OC, Paro.
But where did the ice come from? Residents in the area blamed on poor drainage. They said the drain was damaged during the road widening.
“We have to supply water to the field. No matter how careful we are, water overflows and spills on the highway. There have been many accidents in the area. I even feel shy to supply water to my fields because everyone knows it’s my field where the water is being supplied. Many feel the accidents are caused by me,” said one of the local residents
“I have seen frequent accidents occurring whenever water is supplied to the field. We are not doing it purposely,” said another.
The residents said the matter has been taken up to the highest authority but nothing has been done so far.
“We informed the Tshogpa who in turn informed the Gewog. The Gewog officials wrote to the Dzongkhag administration but there was no response from the Dzongkhag,” said one of the residents there, adding that they also approached Lyonpo who asked the Department of Roads to make the drain. “An engineer from the Department came and took the measurement of the drain. The Gup also came at that time. We were happy that the problem was going to be fixed but it’s more than a year and a half and nothing happened.”
The engineer said it would cost Nu. 700,000 and the matter had been forwarded to Thimphu.
The site engineer of the Department of Roads in Paro said an inspection was carried out in the area after they received complaint from the locality. He said the matter was taken to the Works and Human Settlement Ministry but the Ministry said that they do not have a budget.
