Kolkata: Giving emphasis on ensuring the safety of people while travelling on highways, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said watchtowers and proper surveillance systems would be set up on various stretches in the state at an expenditure of Rs 11 crore from MPLAD.
The Chief Minister on Wednesday flagged off 41 ambulances and 25 life-saving critical care ambulances outside Nabanna.
Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who is also the state Fire and Emergency Services minister, Firhad Hakim, the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister, state Youth Services and Sports minister Aroop Biswas, Chief Secretary Malay De and Home Secretary Atri Bhattacharya were also present.
During the flagging off, Banerjee said the ambulances have been bought from MPLAD fund of Trinamool Congress MPs. She further added that besides allotting funds for the same, money was also allotted for watchtowers and bus stands.
She further added that 100 bus stands would be constructed along different state highways and Rs 7 crore has been sanctioned from her party MPs' funds.
Watchtowers at different points along the highways will come up along with the installation of surveillance cameras. Around Rs 11 crore has been allocated for both the projects from the MPLAD funds.
It may also be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had launched the state-wide Safe Drive Save Life campaign and at the same time necessary steps had been taken to develop infrastructure in order to reduce accidents. The campaign has made a huge impact and has been instrumental in bringing down the total number of accidents in the state.
Measures were also taken to ensure that vehicles do not remain parked along the National Highways. It may be recalled that illegal parking of vehicles on Durgapur Expressway led to an accident of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee.
It may be mentioned that Bengal has witnessed 22 percent reduction in road accidents in the first quarter of 2018 compared to that of the corresponding period in 2016.
At the same time, the total number of people killed due to road accidents has also gone down by 18 percent in the same time period. Accidents in the first quarter of 2018 were 15.5 percent less than in the corresponding period in 2017.