District Development Commissioner (DDC), Ramban, Nazim Zai Khan who is also the Chairman, District Road Safety Committee (DRSC) today reviewed the implementation of “District Road Safety Plan” here at a meeting.He also discussed the modalities for organizing different awareness cum informative events during the National Road Safety Month starting from January 18 across the district.The DDC took detailed appraisal of the Action Taken Report at the meeting attended by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Harbans Lal, Chief Planning Officer, Dr. Kasturi Lal; Additional Superintendent of Police, Rajni Sharma; ARTO, Shafqat Majeed; CMO, Dr. Mohammad Fareed Bhat; CEO, Municipal Council; Executive Engineers of R&B and PMGSY besides officers of other concerned departments.Discussion was held on various agenda points including strategy & reduction of road fatalities, audit of road segments prone to accidents, Black Spots and rectification, enforcement of traffic laws, strengthening of Highway patrolling, provision of street lights, installation of crash barriers, maintenance of bridges, checking of overloading and over-speeding of school buses, status and mapping of ambulances on NHs and training of staffs.
The DDC impressed upon the executive agencies to prioritize up-gradation as well as maintenance of roads at the identified accident prone areas and black spots besides generating awareness among the people for making the roads safe for the commuters. He directed the NHAI, PWD and PMGSY departments to formulate an effective plan to create a safe and convenient road network under District Road Safety Plan. He further stressed on structural modifications at the existing rotaries and junctions and improvement in traffic regulation. Directions were also issued to Municipal Council Ramban, MC Banihal, Batote, traffic and motor vehicles department for identification of parking spaces in their respective towns to enable enforcement of complete ban on roadside parking.The MCs and other concerned departments were further directed to remove the hoardings except permitted and Government hoardings alongside national highways and other roads in their respective areas.The meeting decided to organize health cum awareness camps for drivers, conductors and other stakeholders during the road safety month, besides promoting civil society participation in road safety initiatives.