BHUBANESWAR: Secretary, Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, Sanjay Mittal on Wednesday called on chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena at Lok Seva Bhavan. Stated to be a courtesy visit, Mittal who is on a five-day visit to the state to take a stock of the compliance to the apex court directive on road safety in Odisha expressed his pleasure on the steps taken by the government. He, however, expressed displeasure on the indifferent attitude of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) towards meeting safety guidelines. He requested the chief cecretary to take up the issue with appropriate NHAI authorities for immediate resolution.
The chief secretary advised Transport commissioner Amitabh Thakur to arrange training programmes for engineers on road engineering from block to district level by an expert team, sensitisation of auto drivers and restrict the increasing number of autos plying in the state capital. He further advised to create awareness among school and colleges students by experts particularly in the parents teachers meeting day. At least 10 boys of the road side villages are to be trained by Red Cross/St John First Aid team so that the accident victims will be taken proper care. Annual conclave of road safety volunteers should be conducted to encourage people and create awareness, he added.