Why do deadly pits appear on state roads?:High Court issues notice to central and state governments after 5,840 accidents and 2,161 deaths in 1 year

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has taken note of bad roads and accidents caused by them. A retired engineer from Indore filed a public interest petition, asking for action. The Chief Justice’s bench has issued notices to the central and state governments, including NHAI, MPRDC, and the Urban Administration Department, and asked for a reply within four weeks. The petitioner, Rajendra Singh, has demanded that authorities be held accountable for potholes. He also shared data showing accidents and deaths caused by bad roads. Singh said Madhya Pradesh is the second highest in the country for road accident deaths. A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the High Court stated that 5840 accidents occurred on the state’s roads in 2023, resulting in 2161 deaths. These figures are 31.4 percent higher compared to 2022. Potholes on the roads have been blamed for these accidents. The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf issued notices and directed a response within four weeks. The petitioner raised serious questions about the road infrastructure in Madhya Pradesh, claiming that administrative negligence and lack of maintenance have turned roads into death traps. As a result, accidents are happening daily, and people are losing their lives. The petitioner has made the Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the Central Government, the Chairman of the National Highway Authority of India, the Principal Secretary of the PWD Department of the Madhya Pradesh Government, the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation, the Madhya Pradesh Rural Development Authority, and the Urban Development and Housing Department of the Madhya Pradesh Government parties in the case. The next hearing on the matter has now been scheduled for December 15.