Narayangarh, August 7:

Altogether 62 persons died in different road accidents in Chitwan district in the fiscal year 2005-06 while the number was 52 in 2004/05, records at with the district traffic police office reveal.

This year, of all the road accidents in the district 70 per cent took place in Narayangarh-Muglin road section.

Drying agro-products on the busy highways, stray animals and high speed driving are some of the main causes of road accidents in the district, police inspector Dipak Dhungel said. Moreover, insufficient number of traffic police in the district and lack of vehicles for traffic surveillance have severely limited the capacity of the police personnel in minimising road accidents, Dhungel said. Though there are 22 posts for traffic police in the district, only 16 are on duty, he added.

“Nine of the 16 are involved in traffic management in Bharatpur town area,” he said. On this regard, the Chitwan Chief district officer, Narendra Raj Poudel, said the roads and landscape from Jogimara to Lothar have increased the risk of road accidents. District development committee, municipality, road department, traffic police and media need to make joint effort and work in coordination to minimise roads accidents, he added. “Equally important is that the passengers, drivers and transport entrepreneurs become alert,” Poudel said.