India recorded 26.37% of total global road accident fatalities in 2020: Gadkari

India recorded 1.5 lakh road accident fatalities in 2020, which was 26.37 per cent of total road accidents recorded in 207 countries, said the union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday in Parliament. He quoted the data of the World Road Statistics (WRS) of the International Road Federation, Geneva.

India is one of the countries with an alarmingly high number of road accidents. Every year, lakhs of road accidents are registered across the country, which causes deaths to lakhs of people and severe injuries to an even higher number of people. Road accidents not only have a crippling effect on human lives and their families but on the overall economy at large of the country as well.

The central government has been taking various steps as a move to curb the number of road accidents. While the Motor Vehicle Act has been tightened for motorists to curb traffic rule violations, black spots (locations on highways with a high number of accidents registered) have been identified and rectified as well. Apart from that, various awareness programmes too have been initiated.

In his response to another question, Gadkari said that the ministry is receiving complaints that toll is being collected from various toll roads even after the expiry of the period of the agreement under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and recovery of capital cost in the country. "Complaints have been received in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) regarding collection of user fee from All India Motor Transport Congress and Kolhapur District Lorry Operators Association," he added.

Responding to another question, the minister said that as of June 30, 2022, BOT operators are collecting user fees at 214 fee plazas as per their concession agreement with the NHAI.