New Delhi: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari addresses the audience at the 6th FICCI Road Safety Awards and Conclave 2024 in New Delhi on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
More people have lost their lives in India in road accidents than in wars, militancy and Naxalism, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.
Addressing the sixth edition of FICCI Road Safety Awards and Conclave 2024, Gadkari added that the number of black spots is increasing due to poor detailed project reports (DPR) of road projects.
“More people have lost their lives in road accidents than in wars, militancy and Naxalism,” he said.
According to Gadkari, 500,000 accidents and 150,000 deaths occur in India every year, while 300,000 people are injured.
“This has resulted in a 3% loss of the country’s GDP. As if it were a scapegoat, a driver is blamed for every accident. Let me tell you, and I look at this carefully, that road engineering is often to blame,” he said.
The Minister stressed the need to conduct safety audits on all roads.
He also noted that in order to reduce the number of accidents, “it is necessary to maintain lane discipline.”
Gadkari added that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is preparing codes for ambulances and their drivers to train them in using sophisticated machinery like cutters to quickly rescue victims of road accidents.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 28, 2024 | 19:56 IS
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