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New Delhi: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that poor road construction should be made a non-bailable offence and contractors and engineers should be held responsible for accidents and sent to jail. He said that India is number one in the world in road accidents.
Contractors and engineers should be held guilty for road accidents: Gadkari
Addressing a program organized by industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Nitin Gadkari said that faulty road construction should be made a non-bailable offence and road contractors, concessionaires and engineers should be held responsible for accidents. The Union Minister also expressed deep concern over road accidents.
One lakh 72 thousand died in road accidents in the year 2023: Gadkari
The Union Minister also said that the target of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is to reduce the deaths due to road accidents by half by 2030. According to the ministry’s data, five lakh road accidents occurred in the country in 2023, killing 1,72,000 people. Gadkari said that 66.4 percent of these i.e. 1,14,000 people were in the age group of 18-45 years, while 10,000 were children.
55 thousand died due to not wearing helmets
Nitin Gadkari said that 55,000 people died due to not wearing helmets and 30,000 people died due to not wearing seat belts. The minister also said that the Ministry of Highways is spending Rs 40,000 crore to fix black spots (accident-prone places) on highways. Gadkari urged the industry and other related units to partner with the government to set up training and fitness centers to address the acute shortage of drivers in the country.
