Odisha announces reward for rushing accident victims to hospitals

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 19:

The transport department of Odisha government has announced monetary reward to Good Samaritans who carry accident victims to hospitals. Transport commissioner M Akshay made the announcment while inaugurating a first aid training camp organized by RTO-2 in Bhubaneswar yesterday.

Speaking on the occasion, the commissioner said, “Most of the times, people ignore the accident victims suffering on the spot or restrict themselves to calling the ambulance or police in order to avoid legal and police hassles. A large number of victims, who could otherwise have been saved, end up dying on the road or lose vital organs due to lack of immediate assistance.  This reward will go a long way in eradicating the fear from citizens and create awareness.”

The commissioner said the new RTO will facilitate easy training facilities and issue badge licenses after a two-day training program. The badge license is needed for first aid training and is mandatory for drivers and conductors.

The license, earlier issued by St. John Ambulance, will henceforth be provided jointly by St. John Ambulance and RTO-2. The training camp for this will be held at Chandrashekharpur driving test track of the city on second and fourth Saturdays and Sundays of every month.

It may be noted that the RTO receives almost 300 applications on a daily basis for Badge Driving License. However, due to lack of training facilities and delays, aspiring drivers and conductors take the agent route and pay thousands of rupees to get their license without undergoing proper training.

Khurda District collector, Niranjan Sahoo, Secretary of St. John Ambulance services, Jagannath Mohapatra, Traffic ACP Jateen Panda also attended the event.