States Join In To Mark Road Safety Week; Chief Ministers Urge Citizens To Obey Traffic Rules And Support The Cause
29th Road Safety Week was initiated on April 23 with a theme ‘Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha’
New Delhi: 29th edition of the National Road Safety Week got underway with the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari unveiling the theme for this year ‘Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha’ (Road Safety – Protects Life). Many state governments have announced their own plans to mark the occasion.
While Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated road safety awareness program, Manipur Chief Minister Nongthomban Biren Singh highlighted the rise in the number of road accidents and urged the citizens to obey traffic rules to avoid mishaps.
In Maharashtra, in the presence of Minister Diwakar Raote, Member of Parliament Arvind Sawant, and senior police officials, Chief Minister Fadnavis inaugurated state level 15-day awareness program on Road Safety. After the inauguration, Minister Fadnavis appreciated Police Department for taking up numerous initiatives to curb road accidents in the state. He advocated the three fold strategy to make roads safer – enforcement, education, and engineering with adoption of new technologies. He further added,
Initiatives like CCTV network and eChallan are helping a lot. Now we need to increase scope of intelligent traffic management system in entire state. No-honking is also a people’s movement now. We are working to build major infrastructure works for better solutions.
Initiatives like CCTV network and eChallan are helping a lot. Now we need to increase scope of intelligent traffic management system in entire State.
No-Honking is also people’s movement now.
We are working to build major infrastructure works for better solutions:CM @Dev_Fadnavis pic.twitter.com/HAdWqLAlvp— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) April 23, 2018
Also Read: Mumbai Police Aces The Use Of Social Media To Drive Home The Message Of Road Safety
Just before the start of the Road Safety Week on April 23, Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha, launched an awareness campaign. The minister took to social media to share the news. He shared a short video highlighting the importance of road safety and captioned the video as, “Glad to launch awareness campaign by @CTOdisha on #RoadSafety Week. Let’s all pledge for Zero Compromise on road safety #StaySafe #StayHappy”
ସଡ଼କ ସୁରକ୍ଷା ସପ୍ତାହରେ ସଚେତନତା ଅଭିଯାନର ଶୁଭାରମ୍ଭ କରି ମୁଁ ଆନନ୍ଦିତ। ଆସନ୍ତୁ, ଜୀବନରେ ଖୁସି ଭରିବା, ସଡ଼କ ସୁରକ୍ଷାରେ ଜିରୋ କମ୍ପ୍ରମାଇଜ୍ କରିବା।
Glad to launch awareness campaign by @CTOdisha on #RoadSafety Week. Let’s all pledge for Zero Compromise on road safety #StaySafe #StayHappy pic.twitter.com/RP6MGmcm2M
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) April 23, 2018
The commerce and transport department of Odisha also shared the Chief minister’s message on road safety.
Message of Chief Minister Sri @Naveen_Odisha on occasion of #RoadSafetyWeek pic.twitter.com/K2C5jQ51Z6
— Commerce & Transport (@CTOdisha) April 23, 2018
While giving his road safety message, Manipur Chief Minister Nongthomban Biren Singh, mentioned 67.9 per cent rise in number of road fatalities during the year 2017. He talked about fake driving licences and said that 10,000 driving licences and smartcard driving licences have been seized and verified so far, of which 400 were found to be fake. Apart from asking people to obey basic road safety rules, he urged them to help road accident victims and take them to a nearby hospital.
Last week, Chief Secretary of Manipur, J. Suresh Babu emphasised on how people die because of delay in taking them to a nearby hospital. In this regard, a notice has been issued stating that government officials should provide their official vehicle to the road accident victims in case an accident takes place near government building or in case a government official is around the road accident site.
