Lt Governor chairs high-level meeting on Road Safety

JAMMU : Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today chaired a high-level meeting on Road Safety here at Civil Secretariat.

Deaths due to road accident is indeed a cause of worry. The Government is making continuous efforts to make the public aware of road safety and is committed to enforce the rules and necessary interventions & facilities, observed the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor directed the concerned officials to identify factors contributing to road accidents & take proactive measures, ensuring enforcement of safety laws in true spirit & making improvements in the response system and spreading awareness on road safety.

The Lt Governor passed explicit directions to the officials to rectify black spots within 3 months.

Traffic management has become more & more technology-driven. We need to make necessary technological interventions for highly effective road safety measures, said the Lt Governor.

Training of traffic police, strengthening manpower, generating awareness amongst the people, especially in educational institutions, crackdown on drunken driving & speed, roping in volunteers for road safety programs would be important steps to address the challenges, added the Lt Governor.

Taking note of regular incidents of road accidents in particular areas, the Lt Governor asked the health department to explore possibility of developing more trauma centres near accident-prone highways to help accident victims during the crucial golden hours. The chair was informed that the Health and Medical Education Department has so far established eight Trauma Centres in various districts.

The Lt Governor advised for replicating the effective traffic management models and collaborative efforts with different stakeholders to get the desired results on the ground.

The Lt Governor asked the concerned departments to explore the modalities and prepare a proposal for establishing integrated centres of Inspection & Certification and licensing in highly accident-prone areas of the UT.

He further directed for conducting regular meetings of the District Road Safety Committees for comprehensive and multi-sectoral road safety strategies.

The chair also took a detailed assessment of the Action Taken Report on raising awareness about road safety, Road Safety Fund, strengthening of highway patrolling for prevention of accidents and fatalities, besides deployment of 136 Ambulances provided by MoRTH and operationalization of 102/108 Helpline Number.

Sh. Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Transport Department briefed the meeting about initiatives taken by the government regarding road safety.

He also informed about the important aspects concerning road safety, including road safety action plan; functioning of road safety council, lead agency, and district road safety committees; category-wise cumulative registered vehicle population.

The meeting was briefed about the mechanism put in place for developing an intelligent traffic management system for Srinagar and Jammu cities under AMRUT scheme.

Discussions were also held on the Road Safety Audit of all existing roads; removal of encroachments, hoardings; fixing of road signages, speed limit, and other traffic calming measures; erection of crash barriers on the National Highway and other major roads; preparation of calendar for the training of Engineers in road safety; removal of unauthorised cuts on National Highways & other major roads and regulation of cross junctions.

Sh Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Governor; Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Sh Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department; Sh Vivek Bhardwaj, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department; Administrative Secretaries; Divisional Commissioners, besides Senior officers of Civil and Police Administration attended the meeting, in person and through virtual mode.