The 9th District Road Safety Committee meeting was today held here under the chairmanship of District Development Commissioner, Om Prakash to review the implementation of road safety plan and functioning of the Motor vehicle department.At the Outset, Regional Transport Officer, Dr. Raj K. Thapa, who is also Member- Secretary of the District Road Safety Committee, presented PowerPoint presentation on the functioning of Motor Vehicles Department, Kathua. He informed that the department has challaned over 2728 vehicles, collecting a sum of Rs. 2.11 Crores as fine/ penalty in the year 2019-20.Similarly the department collected a sum of Rs. 40.17 lakh as fine from the traffic violators during the current financial year till December 2020 in over 174 cases of challan. He stated that 46 driving licences were suspended during 2019-20 as no justifiable reasons were presented by the violators for their traffic offence besides revoking 01 Driving License in the same year. He added that the department has suspended 8 Driving licences till December, 2020. He informed that District unit of MVD has remained frontrunner in imposing fine on the road traffic violators during the period of 2019-20 & 2020-21.The DDC reviewed the action taken by the member departments on the decision taken during the 8th District Road Safety Committee meeting. Threadbare discussions were held on additional measures to reduce road accidents and minimize fatalities due to road accidents like: Closure of unauthorized cuts on National Highway, Stray animals, Identification and rectification of black spots, Critical Care ambulances and functioning of Trauma Care Centre/ Emergency etc.
The DDC passed instructions to the concerned officers to take remedial measures in light of the observations made by Supreme Court in this regard. He directed the NHAI to close all unauthorized cuts on the National Highway and prevent encroachment. The authorities of the Health and Medical Education department were directed to present the Health care mechanism in the district to minimize mortality and morbidity due to road accidents. The NHAI and PW (R&B) department were also directed to identify and rectify the Black spots on National Highway and other roads of the District.The DDC appreciated the MVD Kathua for its enforcement drives during 2019-20 and 2020-21 held across the district. He also assessed the preparation of Road Safety Month and stated that the PRIs should also be involved for awareness on road safety. Senior Superintendent Police Kathua, Shailendra Mishra, who is also a member of the Committee, stressed on the need for traffic calming measures on the National highway including closure of the cuts on the National highway. He said a comprehensive approach involving District Police, SP traffic and RTO Kathua shall be devised to enforce traffic laws to reduce the mortality due to accidents.As the day also marks the beginning of Road safety Month, accordingly the activity plan for the same was also presented before the Committee.The meeting was also attended by CMO, officials of education department, Principals of Degree Colleges, Executive Officers of Municipalities of Kathua, DTI Kathua, representative of NHAI and BRO.