Cuttack: The Road Safety Committee of the Supreme Court has slammed the Odisha government for the rising number of accidents and deaths related to it. The body said Thursday that rules for safe driving are not being properly implemented in Odisha.
“It seems that the Odisha government is not keen in minimising road accidents and deaths related to those,” the committee said in a statement.
The SC committee had issued certain directives for road safety and to prevent accidents. Following on the directives, Principal Secretary, Commerce and Transport Department Madhusudan Padhi wrote letters to Transport Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda and DGP Abhay. He asked the two to implement rules strictly across Odisha.
The SC committee had observed that no steps are being put in place to prevent rash driving which is leading to accidents. It said people are not wearing helmets and seat belts and the police are not punishing such offenders. The committee had also said that licenses of habitual offenders should be cancelled. It observed that district RTOs and SPs should strictly implement traffic rules and discipline the violators.
Padhi has asked DG Abhay and Panda to submit their reports on these issues by the 15th of every month. Accordingly district collectors have been asked to constitute road safety monitoring committees in their respective districts. The committees will comprise RTOs as conveners; additional district medical officers, additional superintendent of police, executive engineers (Roads and Buildings), education officers and motor vehicle Inspectors. It will be headed by the district collector.
The committees have been asked to identify accident- prone locations; review accident-related cases by experts and take preventive measures.
The SC body has advised that at least one meeting of the all the committees should take place at least once in a month.
The SC committee had conducted a meeting August 1 last year on the status of road accidents in Odisha. The review meeting was attended by then Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi. Reasons for road accidents and measures to curb those were extensively discussed. An action taken report (ATR) was submitted to the SC committee December 24 last year, by the Odisha government.
Death rate due to road accidents in Odisha has gone up alarmingly, the SC committee had observed. It said that among those killed, 68 per cent had lost their lives due to rash driving. Hence it is imperative for the Odisha government to put laws in place to prevent rash driving.
PNN