Govt moots Road Safety Fund

TO PREVENT increasing number of road accidents in the State, the State Government is planning to set up a ?Road Safety Fund.? Transport Minister Naresh Agrawal made this announcement while inaugurating a two-day seminar on ?Traffic Management-Challenges and Future Perspective,? organised by Traffic Police Directorate, here today.

TO PREVENT increasing number of road accidents in the State, the State Government is planning to set up a ‘Road Safety Fund.’

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Transport Minister Naresh Agrawal made this announcement while inaugurating a two-day seminar on “Traffic Management-Challenges and Future Perspective,” organised by Traffic Police Directorate, here today.

He said there was a proposal for levying special tax at the rate of Rs 200 on the purchase of a four-wheeler and Rs 100 on a two-wheeler. The additional funds (around Rs 6 crore per annum) generated this way would go the Road Safety Fund, he said.

The minister further said that the rules of issuing driving licences would also be made stringent so that the licences could not fall into the hands of ineligible candidates. This, he felt, would reduce rate of accidents. He assured that he would try his best to implement the suggestions offered by the experts in the seminar.

Presenting a comparative data on road accidents and their causes, Director (Traffic) Brajlal said the spurt in number of vehicles had posed a big challenge to the traffic management. This, he said, had led to increase in the number of accidents as well as number of deaths in all the northern India states including UP.

He said the department had started a traffic helpline (toll free no 1033) in State’s 70 districts for better traffic management. Soon the help line would be connected to a mobile phone, he added.

Several road and traffic experts from other States also participated in the seminar, which will conclude here tomorrow.