Bhubaneswar, Aug 30: The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) appreciated the efforts of the Odisha government in implementing its order related to road safety.
Sanjay Mital, Secretary, SCCoRS is on a 5-day visit to Odisha to assess and audit the compliance of the Supreme Court guidelines on road safety in the state.
He held a meeting with members of the Lead Agency on Road Safety in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday and lauded the efforts taken by Odisha to curb road accidents in the state.
Odisha has adopted a four-fold strategy to make the roads safe through 4Es- enforcement, education, improvement in road engineering, and emergency care. He particularly appreciated the state’s effort to map and integrate Emergency Services.
All government-run ambulances are mapped with Trauma Care Centres and 108 ambulance services. Mapping of private ambulances with 108 in consultation with Ziquitza Health Care Private Limited is in progress.
A command and Control Centre for the ambulance network has been established. All emergency services like Ambulance, Police & Fire are integrated under one number 112 to provide immediate help to the victims.
Mital also praised the Suvahak initiative to train HMV drivers and the Rakshak Junior initiative to train National Cadet Corps (NCC) volunteers as first responders for road accident victims.
The state government aims to train 8,400 new HMV drivers and provide refresher training to another 50,000 HMV drivers every year through the Suvahak program. Under the Rakshak Junior program, a total of 65,000 NCC volunteers will be imparted specialized training on road safety.
SCCoRS Secretary appreciated the strict enforcement measures implemented by the state. The transport department in collaboration with Odisha Police is observing every Tuesday as a zero-tolerance day against traffic rule violations.
Odisha has registered negative growth in road accidents and fatalities related to accidents in the second quarter of 2023 as compared to the second quarter of 2022. While road accidents have come down by 7.56 %, the fatalities have decreased by 6.24 %.
Mital earlier visited Puri and Ganjam district and conducted meetings with officials of stakeholder departments in both districts. He specifically visited NH 316 (Bhubaneswar-Puri) and NH 16 (Bhubaneswar-Berhampur) and suggested corrective measures on both stretches. Corrective measures on NH 316 include removal of encroachments, rectification of black spots, implementation of IEMS or camera-based enforcement in all the major junctions between Puri & Bhubaneswar, closure of all illegal medians, and adequate lighting on the NH-316.
Similarly, on NH-16, proper lighting needs to be ensured in the Khalikhote ghat area. Proper road safety measures as per the audit report need to be implemented as per IRC guidelines.
The SCCoRS Secretary will be staying in the state till August 30 for the review and will be meeting the Chief Secretary of Odisha on August 30.
