The Centre is allocating Rs. 14,000 crores for states, NHAI and other stakeholders to remove black spots on roads that cause accidents, under a scheme sanctioned by the World Bank and ADB, Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said.

The minister said the Government’s target is to reduce road accident deaths by 50% by 2024. Addressing a virtual session on ‘Role of Corporates in Arresting Road Fatalities’ organised by FICCI on Thursday, he emphasised the need for identification of ‘black spots’ in every state, district and city.

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He suggested that the corporate world should carry out independent surveys to identify the reasons behind road accidents and a report may be submitted to the Ministry. The Minister pointed out that 50% of road accidents are due to road engineering problems and now the government has taken special initiatives to improve the black spots. This will greatly contribute towards the vision of ‘zero road accident’ in India.

Gadkari congratulated FICCI on the announcement of Road Safety consortium ‘Safar’, based on the safe system approach and release of a white paper on road safety for the corporate world. He said the government is striving hard to reduce road accident deaths by restructuring and strengthening four ‘Es’ of road safety : Engineering (including road and automobile engineering), Economy, Enforcement and Education.

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Gadkari said that cooperation of NGOs, social organisations, universities is needed for education and awareness. The Minister announced that an independent road safety council, headed by a retired IAS officer would start functioning within 15 days.