<p>To curb accidents on national highways, the Centre will launch a new scheme Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Sadak Yojana to get rid of black spots on highways.<br /><br /></p>.<p>With the corpus of Rs 2,000 crore, the scheme aims at better design and road engineering.<br /><br />Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari approved the scheme recently and the corpus would be created from the available central road fund, a senior official in the ministry told DH.<br /><br />The ministry already instructed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a nodal agency to build highways, to identify black spots where frequent accidents take place and prepare a project to redesign it. In hilly areas, the government wants to set up railings on the roadside and install special reflectors.<br /><br />According to current statistics, there are around 796 dangerous spots across the country. The ministry is working on a comprehensive plan with experts to find permanent solutions to this problem said the official.<br /><br />With India witnessing the highest number of road accidents in the world, the ministry aims to reduce road accidents by 50% by 2020 and is taking a number of steps on this front, the official added.<br /><br />In 2015, the total number road accidents increased by 2.5% (total accidents 5,01,423) in the country compared to 4,89,400 in 2014. Last year, of the total road mishaps in the country 1,46,133 people died and 5,00,279 were injured.<br /><br />Besides, the total number of people killed also increased by 4.6% last year compared to 2014.<br /><br />The Transport Ministry also plans to provide road safety amenities across 1,200 spots on NHs to ensure immediate help in case of accidents.<br /><br />“The government has identified 1,200 spots where trauma centres will be created with various amenities that will provide necessary assistance in case of accidents.<br /><br />We are also appealing to the private sector to take up this responsibility. We will provide them around 15,000 sqft area at Re 1 lease rentals for setting up such centres," he said.<br /><br /></p>
<p>To curb accidents on national highways, the Centre will launch a new scheme Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Sadak Yojana to get rid of black spots on highways.<br /><br /></p>.<p>With the corpus of Rs 2,000 crore, the scheme aims at better design and road engineering.<br /><br />Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari approved the scheme recently and the corpus would be created from the available central road fund, a senior official in the ministry told DH.<br /><br />The ministry already instructed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a nodal agency to build highways, to identify black spots where frequent accidents take place and prepare a project to redesign it. In hilly areas, the government wants to set up railings on the roadside and install special reflectors.<br /><br />According to current statistics, there are around 796 dangerous spots across the country. The ministry is working on a comprehensive plan with experts to find permanent solutions to this problem said the official.<br /><br />With India witnessing the highest number of road accidents in the world, the ministry aims to reduce road accidents by 50% by 2020 and is taking a number of steps on this front, the official added.<br /><br />In 2015, the total number road accidents increased by 2.5% (total accidents 5,01,423) in the country compared to 4,89,400 in 2014. Last year, of the total road mishaps in the country 1,46,133 people died and 5,00,279 were injured.<br /><br />Besides, the total number of people killed also increased by 4.6% last year compared to 2014.<br /><br />The Transport Ministry also plans to provide road safety amenities across 1,200 spots on NHs to ensure immediate help in case of accidents.<br /><br />“The government has identified 1,200 spots where trauma centres will be created with various amenities that will provide necessary assistance in case of accidents.<br /><br />We are also appealing to the private sector to take up this responsibility. We will provide them around 15,000 sqft area at Re 1 lease rentals for setting up such centres," he said.<br /><br /></p>
