Gadkari warns officials over delay in fixing accidental spots

Gadkari pulled up officials for slow pace of work in fixing 786 accident prone black spots.

NEW DELHI: Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari Tuesday pulled up officials for slow pace of work in fixing 786 accident prone black spots and warned them of strict action if concrete results are not shown in next six months.

Reviewing the progress by regional officers of the Ministry and NHAI for monitoring and preparing a preliminary proposal for removal of black spots, Gadkari asked them to do the job on war footing on fixing the spots that register highest number of road accident deaths.

The minister said that the process of rectifying engineering defects that lead to accidents should be done at a much faster pace than it is being done at present and assured Regional Officers that funds would be made available for this work, and that they should assign utmost urgency to rectification of black spots so that valuable lives are not lost to more accidents.

As many as 786 accident black spots have been identified across the country and the ministry has a target to fix these at an estimated Rs 11000 crore.

"Make detailed project reports more stringent by incorporating improved provisions of traffic signals, crash barriers and other safety features. Expedite land acquisition. Bring results. We cannot allow people getting killed on roads every day. Do not work on papers alone, visit spots," he told officials.

The government aims to bring down accidents by 50 percent by 2020. India records the highest number of road accidents globally. About 1.5 lakh people are killed in 5 lakh road crashes here annually that leave 3 lakh maimed. The cost of such accidents is estimated at 3 percent of GDP.

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