The Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari has said that Regional Officers of the Ministry and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will be delegated power to approve plans for improvement of road accident black spots in the country . The Minister was addressing a video conference of Regional Officers of the Ministry and NHAI for monitoring and preparing a preliminary proposal for removal of black spots . He stressed that the alarmingly high number of road accidents in the country and the resultant fatalities is a matter of grave concern. Shri Gadkari said that the process of rectifying engineering defects that lead to accidents should be done at a much faster pace than it is being done at present. He assured Regional Officers that funds would be made available for this work, and that they should assign utmost urgency to rectification of black spots so that valuable lives are not lost to more accidents.Shri Gadkari also reviewed the progress of land acquisition for various road projects. He emphasized that Regional Officers should coordinate well with the district authorities and make best use of the powers given to them by the Ministry in this regard.