Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Nitin Gadkari, on Tuesday sought the cooperation of business women and corporate in inculcating a culture of road safety among road users in the country.
"Apart from road engineering, the most important factor for improving road safety in the country is to change human behaviour that violates road rules. Till human behaviour changes, rules won't be followed.
The government alone cannot do this, we need private partnerships," Gadkari said while speaking at an event organised by the Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO). "In India, five lakh accidents take place each year resulting in 1.5 lakh deaths out of which 60 per cent are youth in the age group of 18-34 years.
Women entrepreneurs can help promote road safety at school level as well as teach their employees and their families imbibe a culture of road safety and use their logistics and carriers to propagate the message of education on road safety and enforcement of rules, which are key to improve safety standards in India," Gadkari said.
"I see knowledge as power. I also see waste as wealth. Appropriate technology is needed to see the end results. Need-based research should be of primary importance in order to be successful in whatever you do.
One should think ahead, because green hydrogen is the fuel of the future. Petrol is becoming precious and we need alternative fuels. I think of a dozen alternative fuels such as biodiesel, natural gas, ethanol, methane, propane, electricity and hydrogen, which are currently under development or in production to power vehicles of the future and some are even available," the minister said.
"Women should also work towards improving ecology and environment. The Ministry of Road Transport in a bid to improve air quality in the national capital is developing a six-lane Urban Extension Road (UER) II which will be the capital's third Ring Road.
It is likely to be operational by the end of this year," he added. Speaking on the occasion, Jayanti Dalmia, National President, FLO, said, "FLO with 19 chapters and 9,000 members across India represents women entrepreneurs and professionals through our mandate of empowering them and equipping them with skills and capacities to become equal contributors to the Indian economy."