Behiang Bus Accident: Who to blame..?

Yesterday afternoon, as I sat down to write a post for my blog I get a phone call telling me there’s yet another road mishap near Behiang. This is the fourth time, and the second most fatal accident that happened in this stretch of 25 km road between Behiang and Singngat since December 2006, when I happened to be one of the victims.

Yesterday’s accident take place not more than half a kilometre from Behiang while the bus was on its way to the border village, allegedly when its tyre punctured and the driver lost control. 4 people died and 36 were injured, some of them are in a very critical condition. The injured were taken to District Hospital by the Indian Army posted in Behiang.

It may be recalled that in January 17 this year altogether 23 passengers died and 32 were injured in an accident not very far from Behiang after the over loaded truck in which they travelled fell into the Ngasuan Creek while attempting to cross a wooden bridge. That accident is still very much fresh in the mind of the villagers around the area since they had never seen such magnitude of tragedy, and not only that, because some of the victims are crippled for life and some yet to recuperate even to this day.

This accident is a double insult to the victims of the truck accident, the people of Behiang and its area, and to the Zo Tribals living in the area. After the January accident, we expected the Authorities to learn their lessons and swing into action, but instead, nothing was learned, nothing was done, and above all, they did the most insulting things by pocketing a certain percentage of the Compensation meant for the Death Victims!

I’m speechless even when I think about it. How ruthless, how horrible and how disgusting we have become! And after the second accident of this year causing the life of 27 people and the livelihood of hundreds, I’m furious…

Are we allowed to point fingers? Yes, indeedy, I shall-

• First, the MLA should resign for neglecting his constituency and not learning his lessons even after the worst road mishap in the history of Churachandpur district happened right under his nose just 4 months ago.
• The Transport Minister, the Social Welfare Minister and the Tribal Development Minister should also take equal blame for not doing their part and thus making such accidents a normal situation.
• The Chief Minister and the whole of the Congress led government for allowing millions of money being drained away for a road project that only fattened some contractors.
• And yes, the alcoholic Chief of Behiang should also take responsibility. As a chief who collected taxes, she is responsible for the welfare of her people. She could have done something.
• The Contractor who take large amount of money to build the road, and the PWD workers who took salary to maintain the road but are living somewhere in Lamka, they all should be publicly lynched.
• The driver and owner of the Bus should be held for Homicide for intentionally putting their bus first and not the safety of their passengers.

The CJM of Churachandpur should take a suo moto cognizance of the issue, because, if the problem was not taken care of immediately, an accident a day will become a daily issue. And, for a change, why doesn’t any one of us file an FIR with the police, or a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) on behalf of the public? Hopefully some sort of rationality must still exist with our judiciary system.

This is the rudest wake-up call for the Authorities, hopefully they wake up… hopefully they will do something to make up for failing us all, time and again.