GUWAHATI:
In a bid to make state roads safer, the State Road Safety Council (SRSC), Assam, on August 1, held a meeting at the Administrative Staff College in Guwahati and took a number of key decisions to prevent road accidents.
Chaired by transport minister Parimal Suklabaidya, who is also the chairman of SRSC, the three-hour-long meeting took a number of important decisions to make state roads free of accidents and fatalities.
Suklabaidya directed the senior officials of transport and other line departments to take measures to check the over-speeding of vehicles, as 70 per cent of accidents are attributed to this factor.
The minister also instructed the panchayat and rural development department to conduct an awareness drive amongst the public using two and four wheelers at the Gaon Panchayat level in coordination with the respective DTOs.
He asked the officials to put up road signages in Assamese and other languages more widely along the roads for better understanding by motorists. In the same vein, he instructed the SRSC to design vehicles with road safety messages and audio-visual systems so that they can act as mobile awareness vehicles.
Suklabaidya asked the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), National Highways and Infrastructure Development (NHIDCL) and Public Works Department (PWD) authorities to repair the potholes to prevent road accidents.
Directing the NHAI to organise awareness camps regularly, the minister also reviewed the status of black spots in the National Highways with the officials of NHAI, NHIDCL and PWD(NH).
He also reviewed the status of Trauma Centres coming up soon across the state with the officials of the health and family welfare department.
The minister directed the member secretary of SRSC to monitor the proper functioning of interceptor vehicles and ensure that the vehicles cover the rural areas too.
He directed the transport department to work in sync with the Assam Police to ensure strict vigilance over the wearing of helmets and checking over-speeding of vehicles.
It was decided in the meeting that SRSC would allot interceptor vehicles to the Assam Police.
The meeting decided to induct support staff into the District Road Safety Committees to ensure better coordination between the state level and district level committees.
It further decided to allot breath analysers to the excise department and for the deployment of personnel on roads to ensure strict checking and punitive action against ‘Drink & Drive’.
“We will be focusing more on the things that are essential on the roads to avert accidents. This includes following up with the Assam Police and other stakeholders for putting up signboards, road signals, speed breakers, reflectors, cat eyes, dividers,” said a transport department official.
He added that with proper infrastructure and awareness among motorists, the rate of road accidents will certainly come down.
The meeting was attended by the secretary of the transport department cum member secretary of SRSC, Adil Khan, and officials from PWD, ASTC, NHAI, NHIDCL and other related departments.
The transport minister also held a meeting with IIT, Guwahati to discuss the proposed Road Safety Conclave to be jointly organised by the transport department and IIT, Guwahati.
It may be mentioned that the transport department has collaborated with IIT, Guwahati and nominated the latter as its knowledge partner.
IIT, Guwahati will facilitate the transport department in research works related to road data and inducing new technologies to avoid road mishaps.