Nitin Gadkari sought people’s support to reduce accidents and save precious lives. (file)
new Delhi:
India does not have a very good record on the road accident front and records the highest number of deaths in the world due to 1.5 lakh every year, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Replying to supplementary questions during the Question Hour, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government will soon implement a scheme worth Rs 7,500 crore with the help of World Bank to address the problem of accidents on national and state highways. To reduce prone and black spots. ,
He sought people’s support to reduce accidents and save precious lives.
Shri Gadkari said that it is unfortunate that 65 per cent of those who died every year were in the age group of 18-45.
“Government is very sensitive about this issue. We will soon implement Rs 7,500 crore scheme with the support of World Bank across the country. We have urged the World Bank to implement this program across the country.
“We will soon get cabinet approval on the scheme, which will help in improving the accident-prone and black spots on national highways and state roads,” he told the House.
The minister said the scheme has been implemented in Tamil Nadu with the help of the World Bank where a 50 percent reduction in accidents and deaths has been recorded.
Gadkari said, “It is a very unfortunate topic. Not many people die in war or Covid. Every year 1.5 lakh people die, we are the highest in the world. We have to work on it.”
The minister stressed on creating awareness, following the rules and improving road engineering and automobile engineering.
“We cannot work on this without people’s support and everyone including NGOs, educational institutions and people have to come forward to create awareness about road accidents,” he said.
He said states like Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have helped reduce road accidents by about 50 per cent, while places like Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Nagaland have seen an increase in accidents by 47 and 40 per cent respectively.
“States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra don’t have a good record and it needs improvement. Overall, the country’s record is not very good,” he said.