Bhubaneswar: Around 45,000 people have died in road accidents in Odisha during the last decade, out of which 70 percent are youths, State Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu said.
As many as 48 people have died in each 100 accidents in Odisha, against the national average of 36, she said.
Speaking at the Road Safety Council meeting on Thursday, Sahu said that despite the best efforts of the government, the number of road accidents and fatalities is rising in the state.
Expressing her deep concern over the rising incidents of deaths due to road accidents in the state, the minister said coordination between the police, transport, health, education, engineering departments, and truck and bus owners associations will play a decisive role in road safety.
Sahu said the Union government has fixed a target to reduce road accident fatalities by 50 percent by 2030 and has accordingly taken several steps to achieve the target.
The Minister said 5467 people died and around 5,000 were injured in road accidents in Odisha in 2022, out of which 2477 were bike drivers and pillion riders, and 1695 died for not wearing helmets.
The number of fatalities due to road accidents has increased by 5 percent from January to June 2023 in Odisha in comparison to the same period in 2022. Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Sundergarh, Keonjhar, Ganjam, Cuttack, and Khordha districts reported the maximum number of fatalities.
As many as 2991 people died from January to June 2023 in 6272 road accidents in Odisha, compared to 2489 deaths in 6029 road accidents during the same period in 2022. During the period, the highest number of 597 accidents were reported from Khordha, followed by 453 in Sundergarh, 404 in Cuttack, 403 in Keonjhar, and 386 in Ganjam.
The minister said the accidents occurred due to high speeds, drunken driving, and violations of traffic rules.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, she said, has formulated a new policy and made a budgetary provision of Rs 145 crore to reduce fatalities due to road accidents.
UNI