Government Seeks Rs 14,000 Crore To Identify Accident Zones & Plug Loopholes In Road Safety

The government is preparing to implement a project to plug gaps in highways and identify and resolve accidents black spots. The project would cost Rs 14,000 crore and the ministry of finance has given its in-principle approval for the project to go-ahead.

This step is being taken by the government to reduce the alarmingly high accident rate. At the recent Lok Sabha session, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari spoke about the upcoming project.

During the question hour of the Lok Sabha session, Gadkari said, "It is a highly sensitive subject for our government. Despite our efforts, the success rate to reduce road accidents is not good. We have prepared a Rs 14,000-crore project to identify accident black spots so that loopholes can be plugged. The Ministry of Finance has given its in-principle approval to it."

The Indian automotive industry is one of the largest in the world and yet, is still growing. More new manufacturers are entering the market and launching new cars and bikes. The companies that are already functioning in India too are planning loads of new launches.

All of this would have been alright if India like other big automotive markets had a scrapping policy for older vehicles to be taken off the roads. Together, this leads to overcrowding of roads and highways.

This, combined with a reckless driving culture followed by most motorists makes for some of the most dangerous driving conditions in the world. According to a National Crime Control Bureau report, there were a total of 4,80,652 road accidents in India in 2016. 1,50,785 lives were lost and 4,94,624 people were injured seriously.

The figures for 2017 and 2018 are yet to be published. We are sure that the number has only increased. These are just the number of reported and recorded incidents. If the number of off-the-record incidents are considered, the number would increase by a large margin.

This is an increasing concern and ignoring it will only do more harm as the number of people riding and driving on the roads increase. Hence, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to do something about this. Nitin Gadkari led the charge and has got in-principal approval for the plan.

He also mentioned that the ministry would be approaching the world bank for finances as Rs 14,000 crore is a huge amount. This fund is not to be confused with the budget used to develop roads. This fund will be kept separate and used just to identify accident black spots and build the needed infrastructure to improve road safety at the black spots.

There are thousands of black spots or accident-prone hot zones across the nation that the government now wants to do something about. It is unclear as of now, exactly how the government plans to identify these black spots and then improve them.

Thoughts On Government Plans Rs 14,000 Crore Project To Identify Accident Black Spots & Plug Loopholes

The intentions of the government are spot-on and a project like this is definitely the need of the hour. However, we do hope that the government actually does what Nitin Gadkari claimed it would, without any setbacks or scams.