With an aim to impart quick assistance to people injured in an accident the State Government has decided to launch Road Safety Policy under which different departments would work as one unit to find ways to arrest number of accidents.
“The Road Safety Policy, first of its kind in the country, will frame several stringent laws to prevent deaths during road accidents in the State. Different departments like Home, Health and Transport would work together to provide help to the victims,” Yadav said while launching the Road Safety Policy here on Monday.
He said that the policy has been formulated after consultation with officials from New Zealand and World Bank. “It is now up to the officials to implement this policy in letter and spirit so that untimely deaths of the people could be minimized,” the Chief Minister said.
He said after implementation of the policy road accidents and deaths in the mishaps could be minimised. “India has the highest number of road fatalities in the world and UP has the largest share. Bad roads and ageing vehicles is cited as one of the main reason of these accidents,” he said.
According to an estimate 1.40 lakh people have died in road accidents in last one decade. The report is being prepared with the help of World Bank to know the reasons of these accidents.
The officials of transport would ensure only properly maintained vehicles would ply on the roads while PWD would look after the maintenance of the roads. “The Health departments would ensure that ambulances should be made available at the shortest possible time. All these departrments would co-ordinate to check mishaps and minimise deaths on the roads,” he said.
Yadav said that it is the family members of the accident victims who face the trauma. It is financial and mental drain for them. “We believe in Samajwad so think that everyone should get the Government benefit equally. Therefore, our ambulance service is one of the best in country. It is aimed at taking injured to nearest State-run hospital at shortest possible time,” the Chief Minister said.
Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said that under the policy there several committees have been formed that would recommend ways and means to implement the transport and road safety measures.
One of the committee will be headed by chief minister himself, while the other committee would be under the chief secretary. Another committee would be headed by the transport commissioner.
Besides there would be district committees which would be headed by the concerned district magistrates. The Police will also protect the rights of pedestrians and formulate laws about their (pedestrians) rights too, he said. On the occasion, Transport Minister Durga Prasad Yadav, Health Minister Ahmad Hasan and others also addressed the gathering.