Road accident deaths declinng: Nitin Gadkari

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said 3,200 less people were killed in road crashes in 2019 after the government implemented several measures to prevent accidents.

Addressing a webinar on road safety, he said Tamil Nadu showed remarkable 24% decline in accidental deaths. Other states including Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have reported a decline in deaths.

He also expressed confidence on halving road accident deaths from about 1.5 lakh per annum by 2025 as against the target of 2030.

He said World Bank and ADB are providing Rs 7000 crore each for this purpose to remove black spots from national highways.

He informed that we have already identified black spots on national highways. India has already spent Rs 20,000 crore on removing the black spots.

Underling the urgency to improve road infrastructure including rectifying black spots, Gadkari informed that of the about 1.5 lakh road accident deaths annually, about 53,000 killed on national highways.

The Centre has set up District Road Committee headed by Member of Parliament in each district to identify the black spots and to pursue their redressal. He suggested states to identify black spots in state and municipal roads and rectify it.