QUETTA: A division bench of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) here on Tuesday sought a report from concerned officials of the National Highway Authority (NHA) about the commencement of work on blacktopping of Kalat-Quetta and Quetta-Chaman Highways in the province.

The bench termed as unsatisfactory the report, which had been submitted by the NHA's counsel Qadir Shah, advocate, before the court. During the hearing, the NHA's counsel sought time from the court to submit the final report as to when the blacktopping of the routes would be started.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai and Justice Akhtar Zaman Malghani, sought the report while hearing a constitutional petition filed by Najeebullah Khan, submitting that since some portion of the RCD Highway from Kalat to Wadh and Bela to Karachi had been upgraded to international standard, series of accidents were occurring due to over speeding and negligence of drivers. The accidents were resulting in loss of lives and injuries to innocent people.

The petitioner prayed to the court to order the state functionaries to get implemented the relevant laws in letter and spirit and adopt additional measures for safety of passengers travelling in coaches and vehicles between Quetta and Karachi. The court has fixed the next date for hearing as May 20 and ordered the concerned officials to come up with the report on that date.