Odisha wakes up to road safety

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 27:

With several precious lives being lost in road mishaps in the state, the Odisha government today sought reports from concerned departments within 15 days on what steps have been taken to contain it.

In view of statistical data revealing that in the last three years 12,296 precious lives have been lost due to accidents on the state and national highways, the state Chief Secretary today held a meeting at the State Secretariat aiming to curb road mishaps.

Chief Secretary A P Padhi during the meeting with Collectors of all districts through video conferencing reviewed the situation. Issues of drunken driving, talking over mobile phone while driving, over speeding and reckless driving, overloading of vehicles and the like figured during the review meeting.

Moreover, the Chief Secretary sought reports within 15 days from different departments on steps taken on the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court instituted Committee on Road Safety.

“Five things need to be enforced to curb accidents. Drunken driving, over speeding and use of mobile phones, while driving has to be strictly shunned to curb road mishaps. Odisha Road Safety Policy, Hoarding Policy, School Bus Policy and Good Samaritan Policy need to be implemented,” said Chandrasekhar Kumar, Transport Commissioner after the meeting.