To deal with increasing number of road mishaps, the State Government, on the directions given by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCRS), formed a State Road Safety Council which will hold its meeting twice in a year.
Talking to mediapersons at Suchna Bhawan, Principal Secretary of Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department Nidhi Khare, who is also spokesperson of the Jharkhand Government, said that three trauma centres, equipped with modern facilities was being prepared.
“The State Road Safety Council will be headed by the Chief Minister which is scheduled to hold its meetings twice in a year,” said Khare. A lead agency has also been formed on the recommendations of SCCRS to coordinate for disposing of the matters related to road safety, she added.
In addition to that, Road Safety Committees have also been formed in the districts headed by Deputy Commissioners which are holding regular meetings where compliance of the directions with respect to road safety is being observed closely, she added.
She further added that the Transport Department has been given instructions to ensure strict actions against overloading in public transport and drunken driving in the State and start intensive campaign against it. Districts administrations all over the State have also been asked to take required steps towards traffic modernisation.
“Rs 5.42 crore had been sanctioned for the modernisation of the traffic system in the State. Out of this alcohol meter, speed camera vehicle and other equipments were purchased and have been made available in six districts. Other districts have also been directed to take steps for the procurement of those equipments under Motor Vehicle Act 1988,” Khare said.
Moreover, on the directions by the SC, licenses of 684 wine shops all over the State have been cancelled which had been coming under the purview of 500 meters from the National and State Highways, she added.
Khare further said that the State Government intends to implement ‘Integrated Traffic Management System’ in the State under which a traffic rule offender might get away immediately from the clutches of the traffic personnel, but will have to penalised later through the central portal on the basis of his footage captured on CCTV camera.
“Works done by the traffic personnel and hit and run cases will be detected easily so that action could be taken against them,” said the Principal Secretary. “If the number of cases gets decreased during the first quarter, it would be understood that success has been achieved,” she said.
According to the data available with State Government, 1,247 accidents took place till April this year against 1,248 accidents last year in the same period. Similarly, number of fatalities has increased from 779 this year from 749 last year during the first quarter. Number of injured persons in road accidents has also increased from 999 last year to 1004 this year till April 30, she said.
“More than 20,000 matters related to violation of traffic rules have been registered during the first quarter of this year which includes 851 cases of overloading, 158 cases of over speeding, 18 cases of red light jumping, 39 cases of talking on mobile while driving , 84 cases of driving without seat belt along with 194 cases related to other matters. There was also a provision to cancel one’s license if he was found violating traffic rules more than three times, she said.