As many as 151,113 people have died in road accidents in India during 2019, which is 0.20 per cent of the decline from the previous year, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha on Monday. In a written reply in the lower house of the Parliament, the Minister said that the number of road accidents in the country stood at 449,002 during 2019, down 3.9 per cent in which 151,113 people lost their lives.
Responding to a question from a group of Members of Parliament (MPs), Gadkari said that road accidents occur due to multiple reasons such as speeding, drunken driving, driving on the wrong side, use of mobile phones during driving, mechanical faults in vehicles, etc.
“The ministry has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on education, engineering, enforcement and emergency care," Gadkari replied in the Lok Sabha.
He further added that the ministry has made road design an integral part at the planning stage. “The ministry has delegated powers to regional officers of MoRTH for technical approval of the detailed estimates for rectification of identified road accident black spots," he added.
This comes a few weeks after Gadkari proposed to increase the speed limit of vehicles on highways by up to 20kmph. In a meeting with his officials, Gadkari stated that the conditions of highways have improved over time and can bolster faster travel times. Gadkari also mentioned putting mechanism for uniformity of speeds limits on certain stretches rather than effect frequent changes in notified speed limits even on short stretches.
This comes alongside the Ministry’s efforts to The government has planned to shift public transport and logistics to 100 per cent clean energy sources, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said, asserting that India has made significant progress towards improving green energy access over the last decade. Addressing a virtual event organised by industry body CII, the road transport and highways minister further said India is already on track to reach its goal of 175 GW of installed renewable capacity by 2022.
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The minister also pointed out that India is rapidly developing alternative mobility solutions like ropeway, cable car, funicular rail, among others. “In hilly regions, such as Himachal and Uttarakhand, ropeway and cable car system can be efficiently operated using hydro-power," he said. According to Gadkari, renewable technologies are more labour intensive and within this, solar and bio-mass sectors will have the biggest employment generation of over 3 million by 2050. He also said that LNG as a fuel is economically viable for long run trucks and buses. Stating that India is one of the fastest-growing economies, leading through sustainable and climate-neutral development, Gadkari said, “Society should be livable, workable, and sustainable for all with an important focus on ethics, ecology, and the environment".
(With inputs from IANS)
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