Ajit Singh Kohar, Transport Minister Punjab today stressed upon to reduce the ‘Road Accidental Deaths’ in the state and said that the reduction in the increasing deaths due to road accidents was the call of the hour.
Presiding over a meeting with the delegation of World Health Organisation (WHO), Mr. Kohar said that almost 4000 persons lost their lives in every year due to the road accidents in Punjab. The priority of the Punjab Government was to reduce these numbers through making the people aware about the traffic rules.
The delegation of the WHO under the chairmanship of Dr. Sverker Almgvist informed Mr. Kohar that 14 lakh people lost their lives every year due to road accidents in the world out of which 1.60 lakh from India. He said that WHO with the collaboration of other international organizations has introduced a R.S.-10 Program to check the accidental deaths in the world.
Dr. Almgvist further said that R.S.-10 program has been started in India in 2010 and running successfully in Punjab as well as in Andhara Pradesh. This program has been implemented in Jalandhar district and after receiving positive results, now WHO would implement the same in other districts of the state.
Dr. Almgvist said it has been observed that drink driving was the main cause behind the road accidents and WHO were making the people aware to follow the traffic rules besides using Radio, TV, News Papers and other mode of communications to educate the people about road safety rules.
Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included Mr. Harjit Singh State Transport Commissioner, Mr. Mandeep Singh Secretary/Director Transport and Dr. Kamaljit Singh Sohi.