BANIYANI: Despite the lockdown imposed several times to contain coronavirus, the number of road accidents grew by threefold in Jhapa district.

Assistant Sub-Inspector at District Traffic Police Office, Yam Kumar Khadka, informed that the private vehicles were however allowed operation. In the fiscal year 2076/77, the district had recorded only 231 accidents, which claimed the lives of 62 persons.

It surged to 657 in the fiscal year 2077/78 where 93 people lost their lives. Similarly, in the fiscal year 2076/77, 276 persons were injured in the road accidents which increased to 1,065 in the fiscal year 2077/78.

Meanwhile, the District Traffic Police Office here collected the revenue of over Rs 36.9 million in fine. As many as 53,100 vehicles including bus, truck, car, motorcycle were fined for violating traffic rule in the last fiscal year.