NEW DELHI: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said the graph of road accidents has gone up after he took over as Road and Highways Minister, but assured that steps are being taken to bring the number down.
"After I became (Road, Transport and Highways) minister, instead of a reduction in road accidents, there has been an increase of four per cent," he told reporters here.
Asserting that the issue of road accidents was a matter of deep pain and sorrow for him, the minister said that the measures being taken by the Centre will help in bringing down the number of road accidents.
The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill, 2016, was introduced in Lok Sabha in August and is awaiting Parliamentary approval. "We did a lot to reduce these accidents. But there are certain things which are out of my control. The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill went to the Joint Select Committee, [but] the report has not come to us yet," the minister said.
Gadkari said that he is targeting to halve the number of deaths due to road accidents and asserted that saving the lives of people is the most important for the government.
India accounts for one of the highest number of road accidents globally. About 1.5 lakh people are killed in five lakh road crashes here annually that leave three lakh maimed. The government has already come up with a national action plan aimed at reducing road accidents by half by 2020.