Focus on combined efforts to curb road accidents: Gadkari

New Delhi: Emphasizing upon combined efforts to curb accidents on roads, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari said that the ministry is working on reducing deaths on the roads by half in the coming days.

Calling upon the transport ministers from all the states to prepare a roadmap in this direction without bothering for the expenses, the Union Minister said that there is no dearth of resources for infrastructure development in the country and the need is only for a coherent approach to serve the larger public.

Pointing out towards 36 per cent improvement on national highways and 26 per cent on State highways, Gadkari said that black spots are being identified and repaired at a fast pace. He also underlined the need to include NGOs and engineering students in conducting road audits.

"District-level committees have been formed to examine and suggest such spots that need immediate attention. Work on improving road engineering will be undertaken with available resources worth Rs 14,000 crore," Gadkari said while addressing a meeting of National Road Safety Council (NRSC).

On the occasion, MoS for Road Transport & Highways Gen (retd) VK Singh stressed upon the need to bring about behavioural changes towards road safety. "Road discipline should begin from family, school, and society level. The ministry is discussing with states the steps required for improving the thought process of the society towards accidents and victims, whose life can be saved within the first 'golden hour'," Singh said.