National Highways must have appropriate road safety measures, says Gadkari

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has emphasized the need to have appropriate road safety measures on the country's National Highways (NHs). During a consultative committee of members of Parliament attached to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the minister asked regional officers and project directors to ensure appropriate road safety measures in ongoing NH projects.

The meeting chaired by Gadkari was held on March 24 to discuss various issues related to road safety. In the meeting, the committee members from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha expressed their concern over the large number of accidents and deaths on roads. There was an emphasis on the need to reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities across the country through engineering, awareness and measures of enforcement.

Other issues that were discussed in the meeting included rectification of black spots, requirement of widening of roads, provision of ambulance and trauma care facilities on national highways as well as GPS system to alert drivers, payment of compensation to road accident victims, maintenance and repair of roads and need to impart driving training. Gadkari emphasised on the need of effective training of drivers in the nation.

The minister also urged all the committee members to conduct a regular meeting of the members of Parliament of road safety committee in their districts with the district collector, police department, PWD and other state agencies.

Further, a detailed presentation on setting up of the Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR), Regional Driving Training Centre (RDTC), Driving Training Centres (DTC) and Model Inspection & Certification Centres in the country was also made. The minister also asked all the members present in the meeting to send proposals for setting up of driving training institutes in their constituencies.

(with inputs from PTI)