Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that India will not be able to achieve the target of reducing road accidents by 50 per cent by 2024. He said that it is not possible to achieve the target due to several lapses on the part of the government and other stakeholders that compromise with the road safety standards. The minister also said that more people die across India due to road accidents than street fights, riots or terrorist attacks, reports PTI.
India is one of the frontline countries when it comes to road accidents and deaths due to them. Over the past few years, the government has been actively taking various measures to reduce road accidents across the country by improving road conditions, tightening safety norms for auto manufacturers and enforcing stricter traffic rules. However, the number of road accidents and the death rate due to them are still at an alarming rate. The government had set a target of reducing road accidents by 50 per cent before 2024. Although Nitin Gadkari believes that this is not possible due to many shortcomings.
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The minister blamed the shortcomings of the government. Furthermore, he accused other stakeholders of not doing their best to reduce road accidents. “We had said that we will reduce the number of road accidents by 50 per cent before 2024. His bit,” Gadkari said.
He stressed on the need for improvement in road engineering to curb the number of road accidents across India. “The people preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) are not doing their job properly. Their mindset is that there should be (reduce) cost savings. Number of flyovers and under bridges required in a road project.
Gadkari said that every year five lakh road accidents take place in India, in which two lakh people die. Also, three lakh people suffer serious injuries like broken legs and arms in these accidents. The minister also claimed that three per cent of the country’s GDP is lost every year in these road accidents.
First published date: 08 June 2023, 10:57 AM IST
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