Rs 7,270 cr scheme all set to roll out for road safety in 14 States

 

 

 

THE Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is all set to roll out a new Rs 7,270 crore State Support Programme for Strengthening Road Safety to help realise the vision of ‘Zero road fatalities on Indian roads.’ The centrally-sponsored six-year programme will be implemented in 14 States that are now contributing to 85 per cent of the total road fatalities in the country. While MoRTH will lend a budgetary support of Rs 3,635 crore, an amount of Rs 1,818 crore will be secured as loan each from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Of the total cost, Rs 6,725 crore will be disbursed to the 14 states based on their performance while MoRTH will use Rs 545 crore for capacity building activities.

 

The scheme will incentivise State Governments to drive road safety interventions at the grassroots level with the main objective of curbing road accidents and achieving a reduction in fatalities, the MoRTH said in a concept note circulated to the target States. The target States under the scheme are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana, West Bengal, Odisha, Haryana and Assam.