Jammu, February 14, (Scoop News)-Governor N.N. Vohra has fixed a clear time frame for the implementation of Road Safety Action Plan in Jammu and Kashmir. He called for sustained efforts to substantially bring down the level of fatal road accidents in the State which, on an annual average result in around 1000 persons being killed and 6,000 injured.
At a specially convened high level meeting held in the Civil Secretariat here today, Governor reviewed all important issues relating to Road Safety. The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary; Director General of Police, Administrative Secretaries of Planning and Development, Finance, Home, Transport, PW (R&B), Health & Medical Education, Housing and Urban Development Departments; Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu; IG Traffic; Chief Engineer, Project Beacon; Project Director National Highways Authority of India, Jammu; and other concerned officers.
The Governor expressed serious concern over the poor attention given to this vital problem and regretted that a meeting of the J&K State Road Safety Council was held when it was setup in 2012, and, thereafter, no meeting was held for the next 3 years, till he enquired in the matter.
In regard to the legal framework, the State Government had furnished its comments on the Draft Central Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2014 which envisages the establishment of a new framework for Road Safety all over the country.
The Governor directed the Divisional Commissioners to ensure that meetings of the District Road Safety Committees are held on monthly basis till such time as the implementation of the Road Safety Plan gets well established. The Deputy Commissioners were also directed to launch an urgent campaign to remove all encroachments along all the highways and ensure that the provisions of Ribbon Development Act are stringently enforced.
The Governor directed that with immediate effect it will be mandatory for all new road projects to be necessarily vetted by the Design Directorate so as to ensure that the road safety features are duly incorporated in the road architecture. He also directed that, side by side, the safety audit of the existing roads should be carried out in a time bound manner. He further directed that every enforcement agency should sternly deal with all cases of overloading and other traffic violations and no unfit vehicle should be allowed to ply on the roads under any circumstances.
The Governor was informed that, as of now, crash barriers had been installed at 70% of the accident prone spots identified by the Traffic Police. The Governor directed that the 30% crash barriers should be installed by 31st March, 2015 and the Home and Finance Secretaries shall take immediate action to decide the pending proposals for augmenting the strength of Traffic Police and the Transport Department, after urgent rationalisation of deployment of existing manpower.
The Governor further directed that: (i) well considered proposals for setting up Specialized Certification and Inspection Centres and Driving Schools in Jammu and Srinagar should be furnished to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways by 15th March, 2015: (ii) all the Trauma Care Centres and the Critical Care Ambulances will be made fully operational latest by 30th June, 2015: (iii) Secretary Transport Department shall take immediate steps for the application of Information Technology to minimise human interface and reduce scope for corruption; (iv) online services including online applications, registrations and payments for various services, will be operationalized by 1st April, 2015; (v) Road Accident Data Management System and GPS Tracking and Analysis shall be implemented in all public service vehicles by 31st May, 2015.
READ MORE AT http://scoopnews.in/det.aspx?q=44536