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Bengal

Safe Drive, Save Life impact: Number of accidents down by 27%, says CM

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday requested everyone to follow traffic rules and not to do anything illegal.

Speaking on the occasion of the third anniversary of the launch of the highly-successful Safe Drive, Save Life (SDSL) project, Banerjee said: "We have launched the Safe Drive Save Life project across the state. We have completed three years of the project and today (Monday) is its third anniversary." After flagging off a rally by the Kolkata Police to celebrate the event, she informed that the accident percentage has gone down considerably since the inception of the project.

The Chief Minister also announced that the Kolkata Police Hospital will be merged with SSKM Hospital and half of its beds will be available for general people. According to Banerjee, from now on doctors of SSKM Hospital will treat patients of the Kolkata Police Hospital as the government has decided to merge it with the former. Also, 50 percent of the Police Hospital's beds will be made open for the general public. She also stated that after her government had introduced the project with an intention to create awareness about the rules of the road and how to stay safe, the accident percentage has gone down by 35 percent in Kolkata alone. She also informed that during 2016, a total of 407 people had died due to road accidents across the Kolkata Police jurisdiction. But after commencement of the SDSL, the number of deaths has come down to 294 during the year 2018. "The percentage of accidents and deaths has also come down across the state. Compared to 2016, death and accident percentage has gone down by 17 percent and 27 percent respectively in 2018. Police are doing a good job. Odisha and Jharkhand are also following our project and using the same name," she added.

The Chief Minister has also instructed the cops to continue with the naka checking which was started a month ago after former Miss India Ushoshi Sengupta was harassed by a few errant bikers. She stated that everybody must follow the traffic norms and bikers must wear helmets to save themselves. Banerjee also told that police personnel not to harass anyone unnecessarily. She also praised the Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police for their relentless efforts to keep roads smooth for traffic movement across the year despite all odds.

Before she flagged of a rally by the traffic sergeants at Harish Mukherjee Street and Benninandan Street Crossing, she visited injured constable Tapan Oraon at the Kolkata Police Hospital who on June 2 night tried to intercept an errant biker in front of a shopping mall on Syed Amir Ali Avenue. Banerjee praised Oraon's sincerity while doing his duty. After a brief interaction with him, Banerjee handed over a cheque of Rs 50,000 as a reward. She also interacted with other patients in the ward and wished them a speedy recovery.

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