Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSME 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 today, hesaid that we are working on fast track mode to achieve the goal with the cooperation of all Stakeholders especially the State Governments. Shri 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 we have already identified black spots on national highways. India has already spent Rs 20,000 crore on removing the black spots. Underling the urgency in this regard, ShriGadkari informed that of the about 1.5 lakh road accident deaths annually, about 53,000 occur on Highways. Shri 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 we need their cooperation particularly Universities, Educational institutions, NGOs, State Governments etc.
The Minister informed that theGovernment has formulated a big role for them to play in reducing accidents.Shri Gadkari called upon Members of Parliament who are chairing District Road Committees, to identify the black spots and to pursue their redressal. He highlighted that black spots need to be identified on State and Municipal roads where he stressed that the cooperation of public, state governments, MLAs, MPs etc is of paramount importance.Shri Gadkari also called for public movement by social awareness and education, improving emergency services, pressing for medical facilities,etc in the country. He also sought cooperation of automobile industry in marching closer to achieving its Road safety targets. He referred to the MV Act of 2019, which is a comprehensive legislation on all aspects of Transport sector in India.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. Shri 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.