India sees road accidents spike in 2021 despite Centre's attempt to reduce them

The number of road accidents in the country rose to 4,12,432 in 2021 from 3,66,138 in 2020, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

The road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to the Lok Sabha said that the number of road accidents reported in the country in 2019 was 4,49,002.

The minister noted that the ministry has taken major initiatives based on road engineering to restructure and strengthen road safety in the country.

Replying to a separate question, Gadkari said the ministry is not considering shutting down any ongoing National Highway (NH) project.

"However, in some cases, projects that are delayed substantiallydue to some reason(s), are either foreclosed or terminated on case to case basis and those projects are usually re-awarded subsequently as separatework," he said.

(Alsoread: Road accidents claimed 1.55 lakh lives in India in 2021, sharp rise over 2020)

Replying to another question, he said the total number of vehicles scrapped at Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSFs) till date is 5,215.

The minister said eightRVSFs have been set up in accordance with the provisions of the road ministry's notification dated September 23, 2021, which provides for the Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle ScrappingFacility) Rules, 2021 and are operational.

According to him, two RVSFs have been set up in Gujarat, three in Uttar Pradesh, two in Haryana and one in Assam.

Gadkari also informed that his ministry has set a target of constructing 12,200 km National Highways (NHs) during 2022-23, against which 4,766 km has been constructed till November 2022.