Even as it was admitted in the recently held Third Road Safety Meeting that 15 persons are dying and 75 persons are being injured in the State daily in road mishaps, the State Government’s action with regard to road safety measures to check accidents and human causalities is still just confined to files.
This means if the Government statistics is to be taken into account, nearly 5,000 persons are killed in road mishaps in a year in the State, which is an alarming situation.
“Despite this, the Transport Department and the State Transport Authority (STA) and, moreover, the State Government in general are in deep slumber. They are yet to comply with the recommendations and guidelines of the Supreme Court and the Union Road, Highways and Shipping Ministry,” rued Sankhadhwani Rasta Suraksha Samiti secretary Prakash Mohapatra.
Mohapatra wondered that while other departments have been proposing the State Government for allocations for infrastructure development of their respective wings, the Transport Department is not showing any interest for its infrastructure development in districts to cope with the current trends of transportation and road safety measures.
He urged the department to focus on making road engineering films, massive awareness drives and infrastructure development, besides working on identifying black spots, shifting of roadside liquor shops and proper footpath facility as per the SC and Union Government guidelines.