Twelve people have died and 647 have been injured in 456 vehicle accidents on Kathmandu's roads since the Gen-G movement.
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Road accidents have increased in Kathmandu after the Gen-G protests. The lack of investigation after the police and police offices were the main targets of the Gen-G protests led to an increase in road accidents, informed Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ramesh Thapa, Chief of the District Police Range, Kathmandu. However, crime incidents have decreased during this period.
‘In the initial days, the police office was burnt, and even the uniforms and equipment were burnt, so the police could not come on the roads. That is why the accident rate has increased,’ said SSP Thapa.
In the 77 days since the Gen-G protest, 456 vehicles have collided with each other on the roads of Kathmandu, killing 12 people and injuring 647. According to Pawan Kumar Bhattarai, Superintendent of Police (SP) of the District Police Range, Kathmandu, although the police have arrested 205 people in this incident and started an investigation, 69 are still absconding. Such accidents occur due to driver negligence, speeding, drunkenness, mechanical malfunctions of vehicles and wrong overtaking. Another reason for such accidents is the damage to police equipment during the Gen-G movement.
‘After the protest, we focused on police safety. Road users also felt that there was no surveillance. There were also fewer police on the roads. There was no CCTV. There was no police and traffic hotline to file a complaint,’ SP Bhattarai said, ‘This is the reason why road accidents in Kathmandu seem to have increased by 10 percent.’
According to Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office spokesperson Superintendent of Police (SP) Naresh Raj Subedi, 251 breathalyzers, 17 lidar guns, 209 body-worn cameras, 29 GoPro cameras, 63 traffic lights and 53 traffic islands were damaged. During the protest, about 600 vehicles inside the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office were also burned.
According to traffic police statistics, 1,022 road accidents occurred in Kathmandu in the months of Asoj and Kartik alone. In which 42 people died and 56 were seriously injured. According to SP Subedi, 22,916 vehicles were taken into action during this period. According to him, the traffic police is currently monitoring 326 places in the Kathmandu Valley. ‘We had a lot of trouble starting the service in the first two weeks. We are gradually expanding the service and are now back to normal,’ he said.
The District Police Range Kathmandu said in a press conference on Monday that 8 people died due to poisoning and overdose of drugs after the Gen-G demonstration. During this period, 57 people committed suicide and 6 infants were found dead. Similarly, according to SP Bhattarai, 42 people were found to be dead, injured and sick during this period, of which 20 died. According to police statistics, 41 people lost their lives due to accidental death and 73 were injured. 2 died due to duty, 85 died due to petty crime and 8 died due to electrocution.
