UNION Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday hoped that the road accidents and resultant deaths in the country will be reduced by 50 per cent before 2025, and said, there should be no compromise on saving lives of the persons involved in road accidents. Stating that 415 people die on roads in India every day, Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said that there is a need to expedite the task of saving the lives of people.

 

The minister said that last year, the Centre had participated in a conference in Sweden where a vision was conceptualised to have zero road fatalities in India by 2030. “We had promised that we will reduce deaths and accidents by 50 per cent. Today, we saw the success story of Tamil Nadu. It (Tamil Nadu) has reduced the accidents and deaths by 53 per cent,” the minister said. He added that if “we keep waiting till 2030, then at least 6-7 lakh people will die more due to road accidents”.

 

Before 2025, the country will be able to reduce the deaths and accidents by 50 per cent, the minister said. Gadkari also said that the Government will spend Rs 14,000 crore to identify black spots on roads which are vulnerable to accidents. “The World Bank and ADB (Asian Development Bank) have given approval to two projects worth Rs 7,000 crore each. We are hopeful of getting approval from the Finance Ministry soon. We will spend Rs 14,000 crore to identify black spots,” Gadkari said during the launch of the National Road Safety Month.

 

The minister also expressed hopes that by March-end, the road construction target of 40 km a day would be achieved. “This time, till now, we have broken the record of road construction. Today, we have reached over 30 km. Probably, by this March-end, we will reach road construction of 40 km per day,” Gadkari said. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways V K Singh attended the programme.