Road Safety Policy draft approved

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 8 

Governor NN Vohra today approved the Road Safety Policy draft of the state and directed Chief Secretary BR Sharma to put the document in public domain for reviews.

The last date to receive comments and views from various stakeholders and people on the draft policy is February 29, said an official. 

The Governor further directed that all the views and suggestions received should be critically examined by the Transport Department and put up before him through the advisor.

Vohra has been repeatedly asking the successive governments in the state to put a check on road accidents.

Over 2,400 persons were killed in road accidents across the state from 2013 to October 2015.

The policy emphasises on establishing a centre of excellence for capacity building in road safety research; raising awareness among key decision makers, stakeholders and NGOs to facilitate them in planning and promoting road safety; implementation of road safety initiatives; creating a network of trauma healthcare facilities along the national and state highways; dedicated funding for road safety initiatives and prevention of road accident fatalities; establishment of safe transport infrastructure and stringent enforcement of traffic laws and regulations.

A Raj Bhawan spokesperson said the Governor expressed regret over the government failure to implement the “Road Safety Action Plan”, discussed during a high-level meeting in February 2015, within the fixed timeframe.

The Governor also directed Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu regions to ensure that meetings of the district road safety committees were held on monthly basis, till such time as the implementation of the “Road Safety Plan” gets well established. 

Deputy Commissioners will launch an urgent campaign to remove all encroachments along all the highways and ensure that the provisions of the “Ribbon Development Act” are stringently enforced, an official said. The Governor will be shortly holding a meeting to review all outstanding issues with the advisers, Chief Secretary and the officials concerned in the Home, Police, Transport and Traffic departments.