BHUBANESWAR: The Centre will provide an assistance of Rs 322 crore to Odisha government under the State support programme for implementation of measures to check road fatalities.
Odisha is one of the few states that have been witnessing rise in road fatalities despite various corrective measures.
Even during lockdown imposed last year following the outbreak of Covid-19, the State had recorded 360 deaths.
“The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is going to implement the scheme on road safety under which Odisha will get funds to the tune of Rs 322 crore to help realise the vision of zero road fatalities,” said a Transport department official.
The centrally-sponsored six-year programme will be implemented in 14 states that are now contributing 85 per cent of the total road fatalities in the country.
It will incentivise the State governments to drive road safety interventions at the grassroots level.
Since it is an outcome-driven scheme under which the performance of the states will be assessed on 11 mandatory and three elective indicators (road safety interventions), the grants will be disbursed basing on key performance indicators.
An integrated road accident database will be rolled out early next year and applied for identifying and rectifying all black spots on State highways and major district roads and road safety audit made mandatory. Meanwhile, the State government has planned some new initiatives to curb road accidents and achieving a reduction in fatalities.
A road safety fund has been constituted and as decided, every year 20 per cent of the fines collected for various Motor Vehicle offences will be placed for taking up various road safety activities in the State.
As instructed by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, a mobile app called Road Accident Management and Information System (RAMIS) is being developed for joint inquiry of accident spots and online reporting.
While the CCTV surveillance system along with a command and control centre integrated with VAHAN and SARATHI is being implemented on the stretch between Rameswar (Khorda) and Chhatia (Jajpur) at a cost of Rs 15 crore, it has been proposed to extend it to other stretches of the State.
As proposed by the Commissionerate Police, a traffic training park for traffic awareness and education for students and various categories of road users will be set up in the Urban Police and Traffic Training Institute at Laxmi Sagar in the State capital at an approximate cost Rs 24.78 lakh.
Safety first
The funds will be utilised to realise Odisha’s vision of zero road fatalities.
Despite lockdown, the State had recorded 360 road mishap deaths last year.
Every year 20 pc of fines collected for MV offences will be spent on road safety activities.
Traffic training park to come up in State capital.