New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said it has
proposed to set up a National Road Safety and Traffic
Management Board to ensure road safety and better traffic
management.
"A Draft Cabinet note in this regard has been circulated
to the concerned ministries/ departments seeking their
comments," Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways M
S Khandela told Lok Sabha in reply to a query.
"The Committee of Secretaries (CoS) and the Expenditure
Finance Committee (EFC) have already agreed to the proposal to
create the National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board
recommended by Sundar Committee," he said.
A new Act will be created to facilitate the formation of
the board. The proposed bill in this regard envisages creating
similar state-level Road Safety and Traffic Management Boards.
Once the Board comes into existence it will ensure that
the number of road accidents are minimised.
In a separate reply to Lok Sabha, Minister for Road
Transport and Highways Kamal Nath said the ministry has been
taking a number of steps to prevent road accidents.
"Various steps to enhance road safety such as ...road
markings, introduction of highways traffic management system,
enhancement of discipline among contractors, road safety audit
on selected stretches, have been undertaken...," Nath said.
The total number of road accidents on national highways
rose to 1,38,922 in 2007 from 1,30,265 in 2004 while the
number of persons killed in accidents increased to 40,612 in
2007 from 34,723 in 2004, he added.
Bureau Report
