To contain the ever-increasing number of road accidents in Haryana, 1,170 accident-prone sites have been identified in the State and to prevent accidents on these, improvements have already been carried out on 1,077 sites.
Also, driving schools will be opened in each district of Haryana where complete information about road safety and traffic rules would be disseminated. This was informed at the concluding function of third Haryana State Road Safety Quiz Competition, 2015-16 organised by Police Department at Panchkula. About 44 lakh students from 18,000 educational institutions participated in the quiz competition this year.
Haryana Finance Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu was the chief guest whereas Transport Minister, Krishan lal Panwar presided over the function.
Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister said that a lot needed to be done with regard to compliance of road safety and traffic rules so as to prevent the occurrence of accidents. He said that every year about 1.40 lakh people die in road accidents in the country which is highest in the world. About 4,500 people die in road accidents in Haryana every year.
Capt. Abhimanyu said that these figures are matter of serious concern and hence, there is a need to spread awareness among masses regarding traffic rules.
He said that as a large number of students have participated in the competition, the possibility of registering the event in the Guinness Book of World records could be explored. He directed the officers of the Police Department to collect relevant information about the possibility of registering the event in the Guinness Book of World records.
Capt. Abhimanyu also asked to explore the other possibility of making the quiz available online so that the competition would not remain limited to be held once in a year and it would be continued all around the year. This would also help in imparting training to the youth about traffic rules at an early stage, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Transport Minister Krishan lal Panwar said that a total of 1,170 accident prone sites had been identified in the state of which improvement has been made on 1,077 sites. Similarly, 1,051 such sites had been identified where installation of speed breakers were necessary. Of which, speed breakers were installed at 912 sites and work on remaining sites was under progress, he added.
He said that efforts would be made to start English speaking course in the driving schools to be opened in each district so that drivers could also apply and get jobs in foreign countries.
The Transport Department has taken various steps regarding road safety due to which Haryana Transport Department has been awarded for the lowest rate of road accident in the country, said he.
He added that three driver training and research institutes have been established in Bahadurgarh, Rohtak and Kaithal with the help of Ashok leyland limited and Maruti Udyog limited. Apart from this, a Driver Training and Research Institute is being established at 10 acres in Kaluwas of district Bhiwani for which a MoU has been signed with Tata Motors limited. The construction work of its building is under progress.
Also, announcement has been made for setting up of Driver Training Institute at village gram panchayat, Chapera of Mewat area. Besides, Modern Driver Training Schools have been opened in Panchkula, Faridabad and Gurgaon by Maruti Udyog limited for light vehicles.
The Transport Minister said that a provision of Rs one crore has been made in the budget for road safety fund in the current financial year. Of which, about Rs 65 lakh has been allocated to all RTA offices for various activities related to road safety.
On this occasion, Panwar announced to give Rs five lakh towards road safety fund.