BHUBANESWAR: As rural areas witnessing increasing road accidents with rapid expansion in road network under Pradhan Matri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the Centre has asked the state government to focus on road safety measures at the time of planning.
The National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA) under the Ministry of Rural Development has advised the state government to create a separate cell for taking care of the road safety issues.
The state government is free to engage expert consultants for conducting study on road safety if the State Rural Road Development Agency (SRRDA) does not have the in-house capacity to deal with safety issues, said a recent communication from NRRDA.
More than 38,500 persons died and properties worth `433.81 crore were damaged in road accidents during 10-year period from 2005 to 2015. The fatality rate is very high despite the fact that the vehicle density in rural areas is very less compared to other States, official sources said.
Road accidents, apart from loss of life, have serious financial impact on the State every year. The State loses to the tune of Rs 700 crore on this account.
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) accidental death data, 2531 people died and 4312 were seriously injured in 7593 road accidents in 2005.
The number of road accidents increased to 10,542, which was highest during the period, in 2015 and 4303 people died. On an average, 12 people died per day in road accidents in the state during 2015,
while 32 were injured daily.
Attributing the increasing road accidents to lack of assessment on road safety implications at the time of planning, preparation of project reports and execution of road projects, the national agency
has asked the state government to prepare annual action plan for rural road safety.
"It is necessary for the state to have budgetary provision for formulation, execution, monitoring and evaluation of rural road safety annual plan of action," the NRRDA communication to Rural
Development department said.
The action plan should be prepared keeping in view the growth of vehicular traffic, it said.
Since the inception of PMGSY in 2000, the state government has constructed over 39,000 km of rural road connecting 17,630 habitations with an expenditure of about Rs 12,000 crore.