It might be shocking but true that due to lack of awareness about road safety, bad road design, rash and drunken driving, more than 2,500 lives are lost annually in road accidents in the State.
Everyday, seven people lose their lives and 20 are hurt in road mishaps. Odisha which five years back was ranked 16th in the country in fatalities has climbed up to fourth position now. To make matters worse, there is no coordination between the Home and Transport Departments of the State Government.
This came to light at a function organised by Sankha Dhwani Rasta Suraksha Samiti on Sunday here to mark the World Tributes Day to road accident victims. Besides other activities, the Samiti paid tributes to those killed in road accidents.
The State Government is lax in implementing the road safety policy which it had formulated, said spokesperson of All India Motor Transport Workers Welfare Association Subrat Kumar Nanda.
Joining the programme, former bureaucrat Srinivash Rath opined that people should be very careful while driving and help reduce accidents on roads.
Human resources are the richest resources and its loss cannot be compensated, said former IG of Police and Samiti president Kulamani Deo and urged all stakeholders to obey traffic rules to save precious human lives.
Former Secretary of Paradip Port Trust Prabhat Kumar Nanda urged the particularly younger generation to drive safely as in case of road accidents their families and near and dear ones are the worst sufferers.
On the occasion many college students and volunteers in the presence of ACP Traffic Jayant Panda urged motorists to drive safely and put on stickers on about 1,000 vehicles at the Ram Mandir Square highlighting various messages about road safety. Samiti secretary Prakash Mahapatra presided.