E-Paper
Maha civic bodies to allocate 1% of their budget towards road safety
Civic bodies across Maharashtra will allocate 1% of their budget towards road safety, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation required to set aside around ?520 crore. The funds will be used to fix potholes, address black spots, install streetlights, message boards, and other safety interventions. The move follows an internal study by the state transport department that identified accidents and fatalities on every main road of cities, national and state highways, and each Regional Transport Office. Each of the 50 RTOs will nominate a team to reduce accidents and fatalities and identify black spots.
Mumbai: In a first and vital step towards saving lives on roads, every civic body across the state will allocate 1% of its total budget towards road safety starting this year. This means, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – also the richest civic body in India – will have to set aside around ₹520 crore, while 1% in other civic bodies across the state will translate anywhere between ₹150-200 crore.
This money could be for a range of expenses such as fixing potholes, interventions for black spots, installing streetlights, glowing sign boards, and message boards.
Allowing 1% of the civic budget for road safety is among some important decisions taken by the state government based on an internal study by the state transport department that detailed accidents and fatalities on every main road of cities, national and state highways that fall under each Regional Transport Office (RTO). The study entailed data from January to March for this year and 2022 which they will map as each month progresses.
Each of the 50 RTOs will nominate a 5–7-member team which will work specifically towards reducing road accidents and fatalities in various districts and identifying black spots. They will also monitor steps taken by different civic bodies in each district and will coordinate regularly for the same.
“Budget used to be a big constraint to proactively undertake any work. Now that funds are available, these works can be carried out immediately especially in locations that are blackspots and/or possibly vulnerable ones,” said a government official.
Currently, there are 1,004 blackspots across Maharashtra and vulnerable locations prone to road accidents are being identified. “All these years, data on road accidents and fatalities were not easily available to us. Now, we have formed teams which will keep track of all the blackspots coming under their purview across different districts and talukas. Funds available for road safety can now be used to eliminate issues on specific roads, turns and highways that are blackspots and need to be addressed,” said an RTO officer.
Statistics compiled by the Road Safety Wing of the Maharashtra Transport Department show a month-on-month increase in crashes and deaths between January and March of 2022 and 2023 (see box). There has been a 20% increase in fatalities in both March 2022 and 2023 (1465 and 1221) as compared to February 2022 and 2023 (1215 and 1021). Last month also saw critical road accidents with fatalities on the expressways which will now be part of this data by mid-May.
“If we compare the figures for two years, the total number of accidents and fatalities in 2023 have dropped by 12% and 16% respectively. According to our analysis, we found that the majority of accidents on highways occur between midnight and 5am on the highways, and during the evenings in urban cities and towns,” said another official working on this report.
The number of two-wheeler riders forms around 48% of total fatalities across the state followed by pedestrians who are involved in accidents. Welcoming this approach by the Maharashtra transport department, Ajay Govale, who is part of United Way India said, “This decentralised approach is very critical for specific spot evaluation and measurement. Instead of a generic approach, this will also allow local stakeholders who will be able to provide relevant inputs in eliminating blackspots and reducing road accidents.”
