Bhubaneswar: The 78th Patha Utsav (Feb 10) will have a central theme of Road Safety. As a part of Road Safety Week’s concluding day, the Transport Department will also organise a Rangoli competition among students.
While the junior group has students from Class VIII to Class X, the senior group has students of Class XI ad XII. There would also be street plays and other activities to create awareness among people about road safety by the department as deaths on roads are increasing in an alarming way across the state.
Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Bhubanewar –II SK Behera said, “We are observing the 30th National Road Safety Week (from February 4 to 10th). The Rangoli competition on Road Safety will definitely create a massive awareness among people of the Capital. We plan to give cash rewards to two winners each from the junior and senior groups at the Patha Utsav venue.”
RTO II Mr Behera also said that the road safety awareness has become an absolute necessity as, according to 2017 study, there is a major accident every 1.5 minutes and one person dies due to road mishap every 3.3 minutes. While on a single day, 410 people had died across India in road accidents. In 2017, the state has witnessed 12 deaths per day in road accidents.