Overloading, poor infrastructure behind rising road accidents in Karnali

Four persons died when a minibus heading to Surkhet from Dailekh district headquarters met with an accident near the border of Surkhet and Dailekh districts on Nov 8. Thirty others sustained minor injuries.

Police said the accident occurred due to overloading and high speed. The minibus, with a capacity of 15–18 people, was carrying more than 30 passengers.

Passenger buses plying rural roads often carry passengers beyond their capacity. They make some passengers disembark before police checkpoints and board them again once the bus crosses the checkpoint.

On Nov 10, a jeep traveling from Khina in Palanta Rural Municipality-5 met with an accident near the Radu area in Palanta-3. Seven people lost their lives in the accident, while 13 were injured.

The jeep, designed to carry only five people, was carrying 19 passengers. It veered off the road after the driver lost control and fell nearly 500 meters. Preliminary police investigations revealed narrow roads, high speed, and overloading as the primary causes of the accident.

“The jeep with 19 passengers was climbing uphill on the unpaved road built two years ago. When it couldn’t climb, it reversed and fell off the cliff,” said DSP Tek Bahadur Rawat of the District Police Office, Kalikot. “The jeep was completely destroyed.”

The Karnali region was connected to the national road network only recently. Before 2003, five districts of the region—Kalikot, Humla, Jumla, Mugu, and Dolpa—did not have road access to other parts of the country. The other districts of present-day Karnali Province—Surkhet, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Salyan, and Rukum West—were in Rapti and Bheri zones at that time.

The first vehicle reached Jumla from Surkhet on 30 March 2007. While locals were overjoyed at the arrival of motor vehicles and transportation services, this joy gradually turned to sorrow due to rising road accidents.

The Kittubhir accident

A passenger bus accident at Kittubhir on the Karnali Highway claimed 38 lives in March 2010. Kulraj Sanyal from Tudikhet in Pachal Jharana Rural Municipality-6 of Kalikot lost two sisters and a niece in the accident.

“We endured the hardship of walking 26 days from Tudikhet to Rajapur for the weekly market. When transportation services reached our district, we were thrilled,” Sanyal said. “But losing relatives in the Kittubhir accident turned our joy to sorrow.”

Sanyal added that the Karnali Highway, opened in 2007, has not been upgraded, and rural roads built since then are in even worse condition. “This neglect shows the indifference of the state toward the people of Karnali,” he said.

Hundreds of accidents every year

According to police, 357 road accidents were recorded in Karnali Province in the first four months of the current fiscal year, which began in mid-July. These accidents claimed 50 lives and injured 768 others.

In fiscal year 2023/24, 1,086 road accidents were recorded across the province’s 10 districts, resulting in 112 deaths and 2,077 injuries. Police data shows that Surkhet had the highest casualties, recording 673 accidents in one year, with 1,184 people injured.

In fiscal year 2022/23, there were 546 vehicle accidents in Karnali, resulting in 131 deaths and 1,093 injuries. Similarly, there were 236 accidents in 2019/20, 291 in 2020/21, and 402 in 2021/22, with deaths totaling 97, 98, and 197 respectively across these three fiscal years. Over 1,200 people were injured during this period.

Why are road accidents rising in Karnali?

Road construction in Karnali is extremely challenging due to its steep terrain and complex mountainous geography. Poor-quality road construction exacerbates the problem, leaving the province lagging behind others in terms of road development. Additionally, the prevalence of unpaved and poorly maintained roads, often without proper safety standards, leads to frequent accidents.

Senior Divisional Engineer Ramesh Subedi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development of Karnali Province, identified three main causes of road accidents. “I refer to them as three Es as the three Es. First is engineering; roads here are not properly aligned. They lack street lights, and don’t have sufficient traffic signs. Second is education. Low public awareness, limited knowledge of traffic rules and unsafe practices such as overloading contribute to accidents,” Suedi said. “Third is enforcement. Weak law enforcement means offenders face minimal penalties and laws are sometimes ignored due to external influences.”

Subedi also pointed out the absence of environmental impact assessments during road construction which the province government made mandatory only recently.

Police in Karnali attribute road accidents to several factors, including driver negligence, lack of awareness among drivers and staff, driving without licenses, drunk driving, overloading, speeding, poor road conditions, and the use of worn-out vehicles. The narrow, winding roads further heighten the risk of accidents.

Civil society leader Daman Raj Bam said people in Karnali have limited transport options. “Many passengers are unaware of vehicle capacities and safety standards. With only a few vehicles available, they have no choice but to overcrowd whatever transportation is accessible,” he said.

The failure of the authorities in addressing rising road accidents has resulted in negligence among drivers, vehicle operators and passengers. A recent example is the jeep accident in Palanta where a single five-seater vehicle was serving the entire rural municipality after another vehicle was involved in an earlier accident. With only one vehicle available, 19 people crowded into the five-seater jeep. As a result, the jeep couldn’t climb the uphill road and met with an accident.

More traffic police personnel and technology needed

Karnali’s traffic police are understaffed. According to Province Police Chief SP Apilraj Bohora, while there are 168 sanctioned positions, 259 personnel are currently working (with some on deputation). Even this is insufficient for managing 9,687 kilometers of roads.

Each traffic police officer must oversee 177 vehicles, 37 kilometers of roads, and 6,518 people, Bohora said. The province has 30,367 registered motor vehicles and multiple highways, including the Karnali Highway, Ratna Highway, and Madan Bhandari Highway.

“Technology must be integrated into traffic management,” Bohora said. “Without technological support, managing Karnali’s traffic effectively is a significant challenge.” 

He called for necessary budget allocations for public awareness campaigns, road repairs, building parking facilities, procurement of breathalyzer kits, and CCTV installation, among others.