New Delhi:Union minister for road transport & highways and MSME Nitin Gadkari has expressed confidence on halving road accident deaths from about 1.5 lakh per annum by 2025 as against the target of 2030.
Speaking at Webinar on Road Safety Tuesday, he said that we are working on fast track mode to achieve the goal with the cooperation of all stakeholders especially the State governments.
Gadkari informed that his ministry has taken lot of initiatives to reduce road accidents including intelligent transport system in the country. He added that World Bank and ADB are providing Rs 7000 crore each for this purpose to remove black spots from national highways.
He informed that black spots on national highways have already been identified. India has already spent Rs 20,000 crore on removing the black spots. Underling the urgency in this regard, Gadkari informed that of the about 1.5 lakh road accident deaths annually, about 53,000 occur on Highways.
Gadkari also said that the State of Tamil Nadu has brought down accidental fatalities by 25 % by implementing a project with World Bank’s assistance.
Recognising the important role of various stake-holders, he said the cooperation particularly universities, educational institutions, NGOs, State governments is needed to reduce fatal accidents. The minister informed that the Government has formulated a big role for them to play in reducing accidents.
Delving on the stress caused by the Covid pandemic, he stressed on the need for building intelligent road transport infrastructure in the country on PPP mode. Gadkari informed that he is issuing directions for formulating Policy and Tendering Models for developing Intelligent Transport System at Municipal, Provincial and National level through PPP mode. For this purpose he invited suggestions by all stake-holders so that country puts in place a system which follows global best practices.
