Gadkari asks officials to repair ‘black spots’ in city in 6 months
   Date :12-Jan-2020

Gadkari asks officials to
 Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways; Sunil Kedar, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister; Sandip Joshi, Mayor; Ravindra Thakre, District Collector and others during the first meeting of Road Safety Committee.
 
Staff Reporter :
 
Central Government has constituted Road Safety Committee in each district. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, asked the officials concerned to carry out repairs of accident-prone ‘black spots’ in the city in six months. He issued the directions in the first such meeting, held in Nagpur on Saturday. Prior to the meeting, Gadkari inaugurated 31st Road Safety Campaign. Dr Vikas Mahatme, Member of Rajya Sabha; Mohan Mate, Tekchand Sawarkar, Krishna Khopde, all of them MLAs; Sandip Joshi, Mayor; Sanjay Shintre, Superintendent of Police (Highway); Chinmay Pandit, Deputy Commissioner of Police, were present.
 
Gadkari said that every year around 1.5 lakh people were killed in five lakh accidents across the country. He lamented that his Ministry could not reduce these numbers despite taking several measures. “Between 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh people are injured in the accidents. Mishaps also damages GDP by two per cent. Besides, 62 per cent of those killed in road accidents are in the age group of 18-35 years,” he observed. He appreciated Tamil Nadu for bringing down the number of road accidents by 29 per cent and fatalities by 30 per cent. Tamil Nadu model should be followed, he said. Gadkari chairs Road Safety Committee, which comprises Ravindra Thakre, District Collector, as Member Secretary.
 
Chief Execuitve Officer of Zilla Parishad (ZP); Municipal Commissioner, officer of development authorities, all legislators and representatives of organisations working in the field of road safety are members. Sunil Kedar, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister; Dr Vikas Mahatme, Mohan Mate, Tekchand Sawarkar, Krishna Khopde, Sandip Joshi were among the prominent persons present on the occasion. In the meeting, Gadkari took stock of the accident scenario. In Nagpur district, total 1,117 accidents had taken place between January and December 2018. In these mishaps, 237 persons died and 1,187 sustained injuries.
 
Regional Transport Office (RTO), Police Department, and Public Works Department had identified total 82 accident-prone ‘black spots’ in Nagpur city. Of these, repairs have been carried out at 66. Gadkari asked the Traffic Control Branch to provide information about remaining ones to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) so that the repairs could be carried out within six months. “The agencies concerned should carry out repairs within six months. Else, the officials concerned will be held liable for accidents occurring at these spots,” he warned. He also informed the members of the committee that the district administration should provide financial aid to voluntary organisations working for road safety.
 
Auto Dealers’ Association also should extend help, he said. Sunil Kedar raised concerned over the pending task of repair of ‘black spot’ of Saoner-Waki in Kalmeshwar. In response, NHAI officials assured to take appropriate action after repeat inspection. Voluntary organisation Janakrosh pointed out problems with traffic signls, zebra crossings, dividers at some locations. In response, Gadkari said that such organisations should get their observations certified from Traffic Engineering Department at Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, and then submit the same to the Government agency concerned. In the meeting, joint committee of Police Department and PWD was formed for every police station. Gadkari suggested to increase the number of life-savers, volunteers to extend help in case of road accident. Ashok Karandikar, Chandrashekhar Mohite, Raju Wagh, Ashish Kale, Surendra Yadav, Krishna Pathak, Rajendra Bhoot, Anand Nirban also are in the committee.