GUWAHATI, Jan 1 - Transport Minister and Chairman of State Road Safety Council (SRSC), Chandra Mohan Patowary, chaired a road safety meeting at Janata Bhawan on Tuesday and reviewed the action taken by the stakeholders on implementation of laws for improvement of road safety in the State.
Patowary in the previous council meetings had directed the officials of NHAI and NHIDCL to make rumble strips in the identified black spots as well as at the junctions of State and national highways, with adequate signage and lighting, to reduce the fatality figures.
The officials updated the minister that rumble strips with solar blinkers and road markings had been laid at many places. including Tetelia tri-junction, NH-37, median opening near Raddison Blu, near Excel Care Hospital and Somnath Temple, tri-junction point of Assam Engineering College, median opening near Banekuchi School and Bazar near Nalbari, NH-37.
Meanwhile, projects for flyovers in vulnerable areas in the State, like Basistha Chariali, Garchuk, Lokhra, BRPL-Bongaigaon and Dibrugarh have been approved and construction would soon begin.
At Bogibeel Bridge, the authorities concerned erected signboards of �No Parking�, �No Selfie�, �No Halting Zone� etc., and there is a round-the-clock patrolling of police to check any mishap.
The minister asked Adil Khan, Commissioner of Transport, to instruct the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police along with the district transport officers to conduct awareness campaigns like street plays in the vulnerable areas to sensitise the local people on road safety.
Deepak Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (T&AP) said that traffic police and volunteers would be trained as first responders at the accident sites. He also added that 84 existing police stations, police outposts in the entire stretch of national and State highways would be integrated with CCTVs, interceptors and laser speed guns as enforcement measures.
Dr KK Dwivedi, Commissioner and Secretary, Transport Department, said that FIR would be lodged through NHAI against those people breaking the concrete highway dividers. He also stated that apart from the civil hospitals which had been notified as trauma centres, the nearest government or private hospital from the notified vulnerable areas must also be declared as trauma centres, with adequate infrastructure and manpower.
The Health Department will also send doctors, nurses and paramedical staff for undergoing training on trauma care at AIIMS, New Delhi.
Mapping of government and private ambulances to one emergency number will also be done by the Road Safety Lead Agency. An e-challan device pilot project has been undertaken in Kamrup Metro, Kamrup, Dibrugarh, and Silchar. A total 348 e-challan devices have been procured for strengthening enforcement activities in the respective districts.
Abhijit Baruah, Head of the Lead Agency on Road Safety, stated that a total of 43,693 offence cases were registered from April to September, 2019, against 19,474 in 2018. There has been 170 per cent increase in the collection of compounding fee from April to November for the year 2019-20 with that of 2018-19 from Rs 11.07 crore to Rs 29.88 crore.
Meanwhile, recruitments for the posts of Motor Vehicle Inspector, Enforcement Inspector, Assistant Enforcement Inspector and Enforcement Checker will soon be opened.
