NEW DELHI: Students and alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi (IIT-D) have written to Lok Sabha MPs urging them to make road safety a national priority and pass the more stringent Motor Vehicles Bill in the Budget session.
The alumni and students, under the banner of the IRSC (Solve), work with the aim of reducing the number of road accidents by half by 2030.“In 2016, with around 68 amendments in 233 sections of the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988, the minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari tabled the Bill. It was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha but hit a road block in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill lapsed and was left out in most of the sessions and even in regular debates,” the letter read.
“So, we want to reach out to (our) MPs on a one-one basis and urge them to unify and support the Bill. Hence, we reached out to the newly elected MPs through e-mails, calls and sent letters to their office asking them to support road-safety initiatives. Through the MPs, we want to promote road safety in the respective constituencies and seek Bill’s passage in both Houses of Parliament,” the letter stated.
According to the World Health Organisation, about 821 deaths per day are reported in India due to road accidents, which work out roughly to around 34 deaths per hour. Road traffic injury has become the leading cause of death for children and youngsters.
“We want to put more emphasis on the Bill in the current Lok Sabha sessions so that it can be passed in the both the Houses,” the letter read.