Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said that with the support of all road safety efforts will be a people’s movement and we will soon be able to make our roads safer for all. He said this while attending the grand finale of the National Road Safety Short Film Festival- 2023.
This is the second edition of the short film festival convened by the Commerce and Transport department. Last year, the festival was launched to sensitise people through short movies. The grand finale was hosted at KIIT University in the city.
The film festival has received 247 short film entries in 7 languages from 8 states.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that movies create emotions. They help us become more empathetic. Movies allow us to connect to issues we often ignore, he emphasised.
He further said that these short films on road safety are an appropriate medium to engage society to solve one of its most challenging issues of the current times that is road safety.
For us, he underlined, every life is precious. Road safety is a high priority area for our Government.
Thanking the Commerce & Transport Department for this Short Film Festival, he said the endeavour, started last year, has also been appreciated by the Supreme Court of India, and was adjudged as one of the best practices for road safety awareness.
Mentioning the overwhelming entry of 247 films, he said it’s truly encouraging.
The top 42 films have been screened at Berhampur, Sambalpur and Angul with an enthusiastic response from about 5000 citizens.
The CM expressed happiness for entries in Santhali and Sambalpuri language in addition to the entries in Odia language. He said that local languages will certainly have greater connect and can create lasting impact.
It may be mentioned that other than Odisha there are entries from Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala, Assam, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
The CM also expressed happiness as foreign students from neighbouring Nepal, Bangladesh and Kenya, who are studying in Bhubaneswar have also sent films for the festival.
The CM congratulated all the winners for spreading road safety awareness through their films. He hoped these films will be screened throughout the State and create awareness about road safety.
Speaking on the occasion Commerce & Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the State government has taken up many innovative initiatives to sensitize people on road safety measures. The overwhelming response from students to send their entries is indicative of a change among the students community.
Commerce & Transport Department Principal Secretary Usha Padhi delivered the welcome address.
Odia short film ‘Biswasth Sathi’ won the 1st prize and Kerala got the 2nd.
