As many as 25,934 people have died in separate road accidents in Odisha in five years between 2018 and 2022, Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu told the state Assembly on Thursday.
Sahu stated this while replying to BJP MLA Kusum Tete’s question on road accidents and how much money has been spent by the government on awareness programmes.
As per the minister, a total of 54,790 road accidents have occurred in Odisha in the last five years which has resulted in 25,934 deaths and 51,873 injuries.
The Odisha government has provided Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured in road mishaps, as compensation.
As far as awareness programmes are concerned, Odisha has spent Rs 7,921 lakh for the same in order to bring down the road mishaps, the Minister stated. However, the number of road accidents does not seem to reflect the money spent on awareness programmes.
As per the government report, while, Rs 2394 lakh have been spent in 2022-23 on public awareness programmes, the road accident numbers in 2022 have shot up to 11,663 from 10,984 in 2021.