'Safe Drive Save Life T-20 Cricket Tournament' to bolster safety awareness

Kolkata: In an unique attempt to create awareness on road safety, South Dinajpur Police has organised a 'Safe Drive Save Life T-20 Cricket Tournament', during which there will be constant effort to create awareness among spectators.

This comes a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked police to continue with the state-wide campaign till February 15.

The Chief Minister had launched the state-wide campaign in 2016 and the total number of deaths due to road accidents has dropped by 13.34 percent. The number of road accidents has also gone down by 16.06 percent and number of people who were injured in it decreased by 12.10 percent.

She had also posted in Facebook that "Safe Drive Save Life campaign was launched for the first time by West Bengal. Due to our continuous monitoring and extensive campaign of this programme, road accidents in Bengal have reduced by 16.06 percent, road injuries have reduced by 12.10 percent and fatalities have reduced by 13.34 percent during January-October, 2017, compared to the situation during the same period in 2016. This achievement has been appreciated by many bodies. We are trying our best to improve it further and seek cooperation of all. I thought of sharing this with all of you." At the same time, Banerjee had directed to continue with the campaign till February 15 in 2018 as most accidents take place in winter due to heavy fog. The South Dinajpur District Police organised the cricket tournament a day after the direction came from the Chief Minister.

Eight teams are participating in the tournament and it is taking place in a playground at Balurghat. MP Arpita Ghosh was present in the inaugural ceremony of the tournament.

The entire playground has been decorated with placards and posters to promote Safe Drive Save Life. Even the small battery-operated vehicles carrying refreshments for players into the playground, are also decorated with banners to create awareness on road safety.