Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari (file photo)
New Delhi: Union government announced a scheme of Rs 7,500 crore to reduce accident-prone areas and black spots in national and state highways. The government- which took such a move to reduce the heavy load of casualties out of road accidents in India-is to make a partnership with the World Bank to implement the plan, The Indian Express reported.
Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) has located 3,750 black spots along national highways and has listed more accident-prone areas in the national highways. India has a bad record for road accidents, with the world's highest number of deaths- averaged at 1.5 lakh- annually.
He said that the government has urged the World Bank to implement its proposal across the country and added that the project would receive cabinet approval shortly.
Further, he said that the majority of casualties (65 per cent) in road accidents are among the 18-45 group. Tamil Nadu has implemented the scheme already, resulting in a 50 per cent reduction in accidents and deaths in the southern state, he said.
Minister said that road accidents and subsequent deaths are very unfortunate since the casualties are not out of Covid-19 or war. India needs to work on the heavy death load, creating awareness, urging citizens to follow the rules and improving road engineering as well as automobile engineering, he added.
Gadkari later said that there would be a rapid increase in the use of electric vehicles and alternate fuel in years to come.