Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has laid emphasis on reducing road accidents and fatalities with a high-level preparation and review meeting held at Lok Seva Bhawan under the chairmanship of Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary Deoranjan Kumar Singh.
State DGP Vinaytosh Mishra, Principal Secretary Commerce and Transport N.B.S. Rajput, Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur and other senior officers were present. District Collectors, IGs of different zones, SPs and Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) joined through video conferencing.
At the meeting, a factual picture of the current road safety situation, major causes of accidents and vulnerable stretches was presented. It was decided that the first week of every month from September to March will be observed as ‘Zero Fatality Week’ to significantly reduce accidental deaths.
The campaign will be implemented in coordination with Commerce and Transport, Police, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Health and other departments. The Development Commissioner directed that the campaign should not remain a routine programme but produce visible and measurable results at the field level. He instructed parallel action on strict law enforcement, road marking, public awareness and engineering correction of road infrastructure.
A joint team of police and RTOs will carry out strategic checks against helmet violations for rider and pillion, seat belt non-use, over-speeding, drunken driving, mobile phone use while driving, wrong-side driving and signal jumping.
Immediate engineering rectification of identified black spots will be done in coordination with NHAI, Works and Rural Development Departments, including repair of potholes, installation of blinkers, signage and crash barriers.
District officials were instructed to strengthen emergency health services to ensure medical care during the golden hour after accidents, with ambulances alerted near sensitive stretches. Review of ‘PM Rahat Yojana’ and wider dissemination was also discussed. Citizens helping accident victims will be rewarded under the ‘Rah Veer’ and Good Samaritan principle.
Special attention will be given to accident-prone districts with mining, industrial activity and national highway stretches, under direct supervision of Collectors and SPs. The Development Commissioner said awareness on road safety rules should continue throughout the year and stressed on strengthening technological monitoring and information systems to bring road fatalities to the minimum.
