This one's also for the road!

Sep 8, 2007, 6:43 GMT

Agra, Sep 8 (IANS) If it's a Tuesday, don't be surprised to find a group of women offering prayers and performing rituals on an Agra road. For they believe divine intervention will help their near and dear ones ward off road accidents!

'Sadak puja' or road worship has become a regular feature in the city, especially after some recent road accidents.

Saroj, who lives near Gwalior Road, explained, 'Every Tuesday morning, some of us come to the highway, wash a small patch of the road, put a swastika mark, apply kumkum, offer pedas, burn incense sticks and say a few words of prayer, and the safety of our family members is ensured.'

Pujas are being held in Nahraich, Ratan Pura and even in posh colonies like Kamlangar. Villages along the national highway have also reported such pujas.

Asks Hindu priest Mahesh Shukla: 'If police can't ensure our safety what's the harm in trying the divine?'

Police say on an average one road accident a day is reported in the city of the Taj and half of them are fatal. This is not surprising given that the number of vehicles in Agra has gone up from around 40,000 in 1985 to 400,000 today.

Pushpa Jha, a housewife, sees no harm in doing a small 'sadak puja' (road worship) if it can keep her husband safe. He has to drive a motorbike almost 12 hours a day as a development functionary.

There are of course voices that reason otherwise.

Observed social activist Netra Pal Singh of Jagdishpura: 'This is nothing but superstition. There is no strict enforcement of traffic rules and streamlining of vehicles. So people are shifting their faith from police and reposing it in the supernatural.'

But police and traffic officials seem to be taking the new fad lightly.

T.N. Singh, a former circle officer, traffic, said: 'This is an old city and people have different perceptions about various developments. So be it.'

Meera Gupta, a teacher at St. Peter's College, said, 'The fact is that more people in India die of road accidents than of diseases or other problems. Most of these fatalities can be prevented by scientific traffic management.'

For the moment though, sadak puja seems to be offering a convenient and cheap alternative than a life insurance policy or stricter implementation of traffic rules.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service