हिंदी
Chandigarh, August 13:
The Haryana Government has taken extensive steps towards road safety resulting in a drastic fall in road accidents. The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety also appreciated Haryana’s efforts during its meeting. Today, Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety met through video conferencing, which was headed by Justice (Retd) Abhay Manohar Sapre.
In the meeting, Haryana Chief Secretary, Mrs. Keshni Anand Arora apprised them about the efforts being taken in the matter of road safety, for which Justice (Retd) Abhay Manohar Sapre praised the work being done by the Haryana Government. She said that with efforts to reduce road accidents the State has witnessed a decrease of 17.64 percent in road accidents compared to June last year. She said that in the last six months between January to June 2020, the number of injured in road accidents, deaths and accidents also decreased by 26.71 percent, 26.77 percent and 26.88 percent respectively.
She said that the Haryana Government has prepared the ‘Haryana State Road Safety Policy’ with the aim to achieve target of 50 percent reduction in road fatalities and injuries by 2025. The State Government has set up State Road Safety Council under the Chairmanship of the Transport Minister to coordinate all activities related to road safety, she added.
She said that the State Road Safety Council has been set up under the Chairmanship of the Transport Minister with a view to take effective steps to build awareness about Road Safety, traffic laws and initiate steps to reduce road accidents. District Road Safety Committees at district level have been constituted to ensure compliance of the directions passed by the Council. Road Safety Fund has been created by the state government. A fund of Rs 31 crore has been allocated for the year 2020-21.
The Chief Secretary said that the ‘Haryana Vision Zero’ programme has been started by the Police Department with an aim to reduce the death rate in road accidents in the state. Under this, Road Safety Associates have been deployed in all districts for performing Road Safety activities. They will co-ordinate with District Road Safety Committees for crash investigation, black spot rectification, road inspection, intersection rectification, awareness campaign and pedestrian facilities, she added. She said that commercial vehicle fitness is being checked on yearly basis. 2,33,980 vehicles were given fitness certificate in the year 2019. Reflectors or reflective tapes are mandatory to be affixed on all transport vehicles, she added.
Mrs. Arora said that the State Government has prepared a ‘Surakshit School Vahan Policy’ for safe transportation of school going children so that the negligence of authorities, drivers and operators of educational institutions can be prevented. It has been made mandatory for all school buses to show road accident helpline number 1073, child helpline number-1098 and to display seating capacity, both inside and outside, all transport vehicles engaged in transporting school children.
She apprised that Institutes of Driving and Traffic Research (IDTR) are being run in three districts of the state, Rohtak, Bahadurgarh and Kaithal. The State Government is setting up IDTRs in nine districts of Bhiwani, Nuh, Palwal, Rewari, Karnal, Jind, Faridabad, Sonipat and Yamunanagar. 22 Driver Training Schools are being run Haryana Roadways and about 32,000 heavy vehicles drivers are being trained every year while more than 50,000 drivers are being sensitized through refresher courses. She said that one Inspection and Certification Centre has been set up in Rohtak with a capacity to inspect 1.25 to 1.50 lakh vehicles annually and the State Government is further going to set up similar Inspection Centres in Ambala, Rewari, Faridabad, Hisar, Gurugram and Karnal.
She said that Road Safety Education related content has been incorporated in textbooks to create awareness among school students. Road Safety Clubs have been set up in all Government Colleges and Government Senior Secondary Schools of the State to create awareness regarding road safety by organizing activities like quiz contests, essay writing competition, painting competition and seminar etc. National Road Safety week is organized every year in the state. Special random campaigns to check overloading of vehicles, driving without helmet or seatbelt, dangerous driving are being carried out, she added.
She said that the e-challaning system has been implemented in the state. e-challaning is being done in Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Ambala, Panipat, Rohtak, Panchkula, Gurugram and Sonipat through CCTV. 45 Traffic Assistance Booths have been set up every 10 kms along National Highways to assist road accident victims. 45 weigh bridges are going to be procured by the Transport Department to reduce road accidents due to overloading. 7 Trauma Care Centres are functional in the State and there is a proposal to set up 13 more Trauma Care Centres in the future. Apart from this, 12 Medical Colleges, including five Government and seven private, have been declared as Trauma Care Facilities. For road accidents and emergency facilities, 84 ambulances of Haryana Police with toll free number 1073 and 422 ambulances with Toll Free No. 108 of the Health Department of the Department of Police.
In the meeting, Principal Secretary, Transport Department, Mr. Anurag Rastogi, Additional Director General of Police, Law & Order, Mr. Navdeep Singh Virk and Senior Officer other senior officials were present.
