Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. (File Photo/PTI)
Nitin Gadkari, while speaking at the 6th FICCI Road Safety Awards and Conclave 2024, said that nearly 1.5 lakh people die every year in India due to road accidents, of which nearly 65% of the victims are young men and women. That's equivalent to a loss of three percent of GDP, he said.
Comparing the death toll in road accidents with other incidents, union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the death toll from these accidents is lower than wars in Pakistan and China or Naxalite, communal riots and law and order issues causing even more deaths.
Gadkari, while addressing the 6th FICCI Road Safety Awards and Conclave 2024, said that nearly 150,000 people die every year in India due to road accidents, of which nearly 65% of the victims are young men and women. That's equivalent to a loss of three percent of GDP, he said.
“If you do the math, whether it's war, China or Pakistan, whether it's Naxalite, communal riots, or law and order disorder, road accidents cause the most deaths,” he said.
Gadkari blamed poor road engineering and detailed project planning (DPR) for most accidents.
“DPRs are made on Google and the lowest bidder (bidder) will get the order. The quality of these DPRs is very poor. They (engineers) have to check the construction but they don't. They are just experts in tendering. DPR does not Quality. We have changed some policies now and only a few companies are eligible to bid on Google,” he added.
He said awarding tenders to the lowest bidder was a limitation faced by the government that needed to be corrected. “We need to find a way out,” the Road Transport and Highways Minister said.
“The black spots are getting more and more like Lord Hanuman's tail”
Gadkari went on to say that the black spots kept increasing like Lord Hanuman’s tail.
“Let's say in the first phase we find 6,000 black spots, soon there will be another 6,000 black spots, and soon there will be more. Those numbers will never go down because the basic work is wrong,” he said.
A blackspot is usually a small stretch of road where accidents and fatalities have repeatedly occurred.
These spots are formed on the road network by a variety of factors, including the commissioning and omission of development projects and changes in the roadside environment. They also arise due to changes in development in the area, including unplanned and unauthorized construction on and near roads.
'Two years lost after traffic accident'
Recalling the traffic accident he suffered while traveling with his family in 2001, he said he lost two years of his life.
“I was in an accident and I broke my leg in four places. I was in a car that ran a red light with its sirens blaring. There were six police cars[in the convoy]. My wife and kids were there. I was there for Two years of time were lost,” he said.
The driver hit a parked truck. The minister said the government driver was suffering from cataracts. After the incident, he asked the public works department to check the eyes of all drivers of the Maharashtra government.
“At least 45% (drivers) suffer from cataracts. One CM told me that his driver was blind in both eyes, while a union minister said his driver was blind in one eye and could only drive based on sound.
Gadkari said he could put it in writing that if the check was done, “almost 50% of the drivers in the government would have cataracts because there is no check for this. This (driver's eye check) should be done because it is One of the causes of road accidents.
Gadkari called on all stakeholders to work together to improve road quality and enforce road discipline to reduce road accidents and related fatalities.
