By Tricitynews
Ludhiana 27th Feb:-
Ludhiana witnesses a
death on city roads every day. The official figures listed at
least 40 deaths in the month of January this year. Quoting the official data of approximately
1100 deaths in last 3 years and an average of 350 deaths and 500 seriously
injured every year in road accidents , Dr Kamal Soi Chairman of the
NGO Raahat - The Safe Community Foundation while addressing a press conference
here today gave a peep into frightening reality of road accidents.
Dr Kamal Soi, a Member- National
Road Safety Council of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways,
highlighted the initiatives taken in the last one month and rolled out the way
forward under “Mission Safe Ludhiana 2020”. Central to his strong message was
lackadaisical attitude of law enforcement agencies and also the lacking
interest of the politicians in talking about the need for regulating traffic
habits.
Giving details of the official
data, Dr Kamal Soi said the fatality rate of accidents in the city was 68 per
cent making Ludhiana among the cities with most dangerous roads in the entire
country.
Listing out a series of activities
to be undertaken as part of the mission to achieve reduced number of deaths in
road accidents by 25% & to help ensuring lesser jams & ensure safe
reliable & ease of mobility in the City, he said that he will begin with a
Road Safety Prayer’ asking public to make a commitment on driving safely and
carrying all valid documents.
Dr Kamal Soi said that DAV School,
BRS Nagar, Green Land Group of Schools and many others had joined Mission
Safe Ludhiana 2020. We have also received support from eminent personalities in
different fields of life including Padma Bhushan Dr SS Johal, Sh Darshan Arora Chairman Ludhiana
Citizen Council, CA Ravi Kant Gupta Member Local Mgt Committee DAV School BRS
Nagar Ludhiana. He also named certain NGOs and Media houses who had come
forward to support the Mission.
Spelling out the areas of concern
for the mission, Dr Kamal Soi spoke about HSRP Number plates, driving
licenses, scientific enforcement of rules, Safe School Vahan Policy, Police
Station wise monitoring of Road Accidents , handling of road deaths, Traffic
Jams, Road Safety Audits, Condition of Roads, Correction of Black Spots and
regular media briefing.
Dr Soi said that special focus has
to be the implementation of High Security Registration Plates in Ludhiana. he
urged government to expedite the process of implementation of high security
registration plates (HSRP) on new as well as old vehicles as this is a issue of
National Security and can go a long way in curbing vehicle borne crimes.
He informed that State Transport Department has already implemented restrictions
for any transaction without affixation of HSRP. and the process of applying is
now being made easier as customer can now apply HSRP online for old/existing
vehicles in addition to implementation of appointment system for affixation of
HSRP , but implementation of HSRP on Old vehicles and lack of enforcement still
remains a major challenge. Temper proof HSRP plates are affixed with
non-removable and non-reusable snap locks and their Reflectivity index improves
vision specially at night and during foggy season.
Dr Soi added that the mission has
chalked out a long list of activities to educate people about the Motor Vehicle
Amended Bill 2019. He spelt details about the Speed Governors for
Controlling Speed in Commercial Vehicles, GPS in Public Service Vehicles, Safe
Outdoor Advertising Policy and Training of Police Personnel.
