BHUBANESWAR: Road accidents claimed as many as 25,257 lives in the State in the last five years, Commerce and Transport Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu informed the Assembly on Thursday. Replying to a question of BJP Chief Whip Mohan Majhi, the Minister said 4,947 people lost their lives in road accidents by unidentified vehicles during this period.
Data provided by the Minister revealed, a total of 53,982 accidents occured during 2017-2021 in which 25,257 people died and 52,769 were injured.As many as 11,198 persons sustained injuries in 2017, 11,794 in 2018, 11,177 in 2019, 8,818 in 2020 and 9,782 in 2021.
In the pandemic year of 2020, which experienced long durations of lockdown and shutdown with severe restrictions on vehicular movement, as many as 9,817 accidents with 4,738 casualties were reported.
The Minister said solatium of Rs 49.50 lakh was provided to 29 people in 2019, Rs 1.11 crore to 63 people in 2020, Rs 2,93,50,000 to 164 people in 2021 and Rs 7,40,50,000 to 116 people up to June 2022.
The Minister said compensation of Rs 1.69 crore was provided to the next of kin of 77 families of deceased persons out of Chief Minister’s Relief Fund who died due to road accidents between 2018-19 and June, 2022.