Rs750cr spent on road safety in Nagpur dist: Mahatme

Nagpur: Rajya Sabha member from city Dr Vikas Mahatme, who is also a member of Parliament Road Safety Committee (MPRSC) on Friday said Rs750 crore have been spent in Nagpur district to rectify 66 accident-prone spots.
“The amount has been spent for not only rectifying black spots, but for construction of roads, flyovers and underpasses in the district,” said Dr Mahatme while addressing a press conference after chairing MPRSC meet here at Regional Transport Office of Nagpur city.He also announced a road safety month would be observed from January 18 to February 17.
Dr Mahatme said of the 66 black spots, rectification was done at 32, work is on at 30, while the remaining spots will be covered soon.
City RTO Dinkar Manwar, deputy RTO (East) Vinod Jadhav, Janakrosh secretary Ravindra Kaskhedikar, vice-president Ashok Karandikar and Jeevan Raksha NGO’s founder Raju Wagh were among others present on the occasion.
Dr Mahatme said in year 2020, different government agencies including NHAI, RTO, NMC, state PWD and NIT have succeeded in bringing down road accidents across the district. Nagpur rural had witnessed 13 fewer road accidents in 2020. This has also reduced fatalities by 5%. Similarly, Nagpur city too had witnessed 27% reduction in road accidents, bringing down the fatality rate by 22%, said the MP.
He said because of the efforts of Union minister Nitin Gadkari, condition of roads, not only in the city but in Nagpur rural, has improved. Sadly, it has also increased road accidents due to speeding by motorists, he said.
“The MPRSC is going to take help of Visvesvaraya National Institute Of Technology (VNIT) civil engineering faculty headed by V Landge and professor Udit Jain for carrying out accident spot analysis,” he said.
Taking cognisance of electric poles that now stand in the middle of roads because of widening of streets, Mahatme said he will soon convene another meeting with concerned departments, including Nagpur Municipal Corporation and state’s public works department.
“There is lack of coordination among various departments engaged in infrastructural works in the city,” he said and admitted flaws in Sadar flyover design. He said the MPRSC will soon issue a directive to all government agencies involved in road and flyover development works to coordinate before taking up any infrastructure work in the city.
During the month-long awareness programme, several programmes pertaining to road safety will be organized, he added.
Suggestions By Members
* Synchronisation of signals
* Lane demarcation
* Timers at signals
* Removal of beggars from busy intersections and their rehabilitation