NEW DELHI: With 1.5 lakh people dying in road accidents annually, the government plans make it mandatory to keep 1 percent of total cost of highway project for road safety measures, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.
The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is moving a cabinet note in this regards and it is likely to be approved soon.
"We have prepared a policy for setting aside one per cent of the total project cost of any highway project for road safety issues. Government is likely to approve it soon," said Transport Minister Gadkari.
The amount collected will be used for implementing road safety measures like fixing accidental spots, installing cameras and lights and on other such issues. The government is committed to reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 percent by 2020.
The ministry is also holding a meeting of Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Yunus Khan, Minister for Transport, Rajasthan and comprising state transport ministers on road safety and ease of transport on April 29.
The meeting will also discuss the new road safety bill which could not be introduced in the parliament due to opposition from some states who said the proposed law encroached on their financial rights.
Gadkari had recently said that different lobbies were opposing the Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2015. The bill seeks to come down heavily on traffic offenders and proposes steep penalties of up to Rs 3 lakh along with a minimum 7-year imprisonment for death of a child in certain circumstances, besides huge fines for driving violations.