Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has called upon all State Transport Ministers and officials to work together to reduce road accidents and deaths by 50% by 2024. At an interactive meeting with State Transport Ministers in Bengaluru today, Shri Gadkari said the Road Safety Issue traffic should not be taken lightly. According to him, traffic accidents should be constantly checked and corrected. The minister suggested training engineering students to conduct road safety audits, based on which the ministry can take action.
The State Transport / PWD Ministers raised their issues regarding highway infrastructure in the meeting and shared their problems and urged the Central Government to resolve them. Among the State Ministers who attended the meeting were Shri Govindas Kounthujam (Manipur), Shri Prafull Kumar Mallik (Odisha), Shri Satpal Maharaj (Uttarakhand), Shri Harbhajan Singh (Punjab), Shri Bhajan Lal l (Rajasthan), Shri Samdup Lapki ), Shri A.V. Velu (Tamil Nadu), Shri Nilesh Kabra (Goa), Arvind Chauhan (Maharashtra). In addition, chief secretaries and secretaries of PWD ministries of various states were also present.
Shri Kounthujam said that 90% of the areas are hilly and there are problems in land acquisition in view of the National Highway projects. “But we are trying to resolve these issues and soon we will be able to get the land,” he said. He said we want to develop highway infrastructure at the level of other states. Talking about the problems of Sikkim, Shri Samdup Lapcha said that the state is facing scarcity of resources and tourism is the only source of economy. “We survive from tourism. It will be good if we get an alternative road from Bankura to Sikkim, it will also be good from the security point of view,” he said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Shri Velu spoke about the steps taken by the state government to make the state accident free. “More than 300 engineers were trained. We have also launched a sensitization program for school students in the state,” he pointed out. Talking about Uttarakhand, Shri Satpal Maharaj said, “In view of incidents of landslides damaging the highways, a Center for Landslides and Mitigation has been set up to look for ways to minimize the damage,” he said. Shri Gadkari said that he is getting full support from Uttarakhand State Government in Char Dham Pariyojana.
Rajasthan Minister Shri Bhajan Lal Jatav urged the Center to provide new national highways to the states. He also informed about increasing the width of state highways to reduce the incidence of accidents. He also said that the Road Safety Act has been introduced in the state. Shri Harbhajan Singh, PWD Minister of Punjab, urged the Center to help build new links and bridges along the border areas, for which he demanded additional funds.
