As far as India’s road transport is concerned, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has made a significant contribution to bringing about change. Whether in the mountains or on the plains, roads have been widened. They have become two-lane, four-lane, and six-lane. Travel has become easier by bypassing crowded cities, but still, accidents are not uncommon. News of such accidents in social life is so horrific that it makes one shudder. Recently, a tragic accident was reported from Arunachal Pradesh, where a truck fell into a gorge in the Anjaw district of this border state. The truck driver, cleaner, and 21 laborers died. The only surviving laborer somehow managed to walk and reached an army camp two days later.
The accident, which occurred on December 8th, was reported on December 10th. A few days before this, we should also take note of the devastating fire in a nightclub in Goa that killed 25 people. Of these 25 people, 5 were tourists, and 20 were employees. An FIR was registered against the two owners of the nightclub because they violated safety norms, making the entertainment of tourists dangerous. Nowadays, sightseeing tourism is also becoming very dangerous. Hill stations are becoming dangerous places for tourists. The reason given is that two-lane and four-lane roads are being built in the mountains to facilitate traffic, but the explosions carried out in the mountains for this purpose bring with them a message of death.
Mountains crumble, roads break, and people’s lives are ruined. Tourists who go sightseeing find themselves trapped and then vow never to go on such trips again. Whether the accidents occur in the mountains or on the plains, safety norms are violated everywhere. A magisterial inquiry is ordered, and compensation is announced for the dependents of the deceased. But why do such incidents happen? Why isn’t caution made a habit?
People prioritize making money over human life and build tourist destinations in places where they shouldn’t be built. The entrance to the Goa nightclub was so narrow that even the fire brigade had great difficulty reaching it, which is why there were so many casualties. If we want to keep our tourism industry alive, we must adopt such safety precautions as a matter of routine to prevent such tragedies.