GUWAHATI, Sept 11 - With a view to preventing accidents on the State�s roads, the government is contemplating a series of measures to increase safety as well for more strict enforcement of traffic laws.
This was stated by Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in the Legislative Assembly today.
Replying to a call attention motion by Congress MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar, the minister said that prevention of road mishaps is among the top most priorities of not only the State government but also the Centre. He cited government data to state that every year there are 1.5 lakh deaths on Indian roads.
Patowary said that during the January-July period last year, there were 4,417 road accidents in Assam, while there have been 4,122 such cases during the corresponding period this year.
Road mishaps had claimed 1,506 lives in Assam in January-July last year. The number of fatalities during the same period this year is 1,495. Similarly, a total of 3,645 people were injured in road accidents during January-July 2016 in Assam. The figure for the corresponding period this year is 3,226.
Patowary said the Union government has formed two core committees to deal with the menace of road accidents and the State government is also determined to work in this area.
He said on the one hand there has been an exponential growth in number of vehicles, especially in the urban areas of Assam, in recent times, and on the other, the number of instances, where people wilfully break traffic laws, has also risen.
Patowary also cited over-speeding, drink driving, overloaded vehicles and people�s refusal to wear helmets while riding two-wheelers as examples where rules are wilfully flouted. He added that even in a small urban centre like Nalbari, the number of autorickshaws has reached 4,500 and more than 4,000 e-rickshaws have been registered in the town.
�Police and the transport department will have to enforce the rules. But the public must also help in this regard,� Patowary said, adding that the Road Safety Council will take some stern measures as far as rule violation is concerned.
