Editorial
Highway police in the lurch
More funds need to be invested
There is little that one can expect of a service provider if it is not given the resources in adequate quantity to perform its designated tasks. To us it seems that the highway police are merely showpiece, and exist in name only. Going by a report in the leading national daily on the travails of the highway police, not only are its assets abjectly inadequate, except for highway accidents the highway police have no authority to file cases of robbery or investigate those. And for every 166 kilo meters of highway there is only one patrol car to exercise control on the traffic.
The highway police was a good addition to the police force. Given the volume of traffic on the highways, and the dangerous configuration of the roads in many places, it is no wonder that we have so many accidents on the highways and so many deaths. And given the lax oversight, inevitable because of lack of mobility and the distance between two highway police stations and two outposts, the number of highway robbery is on the rise, so much so that entire container trucks carrying costly consignments have vanished from the road without a trace. And woe betide all the travelers on our highways should there be an accident. The traffic jam that ensues runs into miles and takes hours to clear, all because the number of auto wreckers is limited.
We feel that the government should address the issue with urgency. If the 1,200 kilometre of highway has to be efficiently managed the highway police will have to be provided with more resources and manpower. What we have now is really a waste of assets. We are eagerly waiting for the assurances of the IGP that the highway police will see a qualitative increase in the shortest possible time.
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