More awareness, safety measures to be adopted to reduce road mishaps, Sushanta Chowdhury

In order to reduce road traffic accidents (RTAs), authorities of the State Road Safety Council (SRSC) stressed over adoption of more awareness and safety measures.

On Monday, Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, who is also chairman of SRSC, chaired the 15th meeting of the SRSC at Civil Secretariat in Agartala in presence of top officials of Transport and Traffic departments.

While speaking in the meeting, Chowdhury said that the state government in order to reduce the losses of life in road mishaps has always stressed on mass awareness. He said that by using modern machinery and interceptor vehicles to control speeding vehicles, the departments are working round the clock.

Highlighting different road safety measures,   the minister said that the department has run a ‘good samaritan’ scheme awarded people with Rs.5000 for rescuing injured people during road mishaps.

Soon, the department will initiate a mass awareness programme in 25 colleges of the state on road safety, consumer protection and to educate students over drug abuses, said Chowdhury and added that awareness measures are the most concrete tool to protect people from road mishaps.

Mentioning the Transport department’s activities on road safety, additional secretary of Transport department, Subrata Chowdhury said that as per the directives of the Road Safety Committee of the Supreme Court, the state government also follows the measures to reduce fatalities in road accidents at 10 per cent every year. In comparison to fatalities during road accidents in the year 2023, a total of 13% reduction in fatalities has been recorded in the road mishaps that occurred in 2024.

He said that January will be observed as ‘road safety month’ and the department has started implementation of ‘Vehcile Scrapping Policy-2024’.

The additional secretary also said that the department has also taken measures to smooth passages through footpaths and protection measures in all ‘blackspots’ across the state.

During the SRSC meeting, PWD secretary Kiran Gitte, Transport Secretary CK Jamatia, DIG Ipper Monchak, SP(Traffic) Manik Das along with other concerned officials were also present.