Nayagarh: Lack of awareness drive and publicity campaigns by the district administration has deterred people from becoming Good Samaritans to people during road mishaps, a report said.
According to reports— the district registered 211 accidents in 2018 and 187 accidents till date in 2019. Ninety persons were killed and 141 rendered critical in 211 road mishaps in 2018. Similarly, 76 persons were killed and 145 injured in 187 mishaps till date in 2019. The next one hour after an accident is very important as timely help can change things altogether.
As a result, many people die prematurely because of lack of timely help. In view of these facts, the Union government introduced a Good Samaritan policy in 2014 that was supposed to guarantee protection to people who witness a road mishap and come forward to help the accident victims.
The new law came into force in our state from 2018. However, there are few takers for this policy in Nayagarh district. People performing the role of Good Samaritans have been awarded in other districts but there are none in Nayagarh district. This has raised serious question marks on the efficiency on the district road safety committee (Zilla Sadak Surakshya Committee).
The committee except putting up a hoarding in a corner of the district headquarters hospital has failed to rope in more Good Samaritans. According to the Good Samaritan policy, any person who willingly comes forward and helps admitting injured persons in the road mishaps in the hospital will be awarded with a cash prize of Rs 2,000. If the concerned person has hired a vehicle to rush the accident victims to the hospital then the vehicle rent will be reimbursed to them.
The Good Samaritans will have to obtain a certificate in this regard from the concerned hospital where the accident victim is undergoing treatment and submit it in the office of the RTO to receive the money spent as vehicle rent.
When contacted, RTO Lagnajit Rout said steps will be taken in coming days after having a discussion with the police department.
PNN