Over 18,000 People Died In Road Mishaps In Last 4 Years In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Despite a ‘zero tolerance’ approach towards traffic rule violations and massive awareness campaigns, road mishaps continue to claim lives and remain a major headache for the enforcement authorities.

As many as 18,683 people were killed in road accidents in the last four years in Odisha, said Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera on Thursday. While replying to a question, Behera informed the Odisha Assembly that 4,463 people were killed in 10,532 accidents in 2016 and 4,790 deaths occurred in 10,855 accidents in 2017. A total of 5,315 people died in 11,262 accidents in 2018 and till September 2019, 4,115 deaths in 8,203 accidents have been reported, said Behera.

The Minister said that several steps have been taken to curb road accidents in the state. While driving licences are cancelled for violating the motor vehicle rules as per the direction of the Supreme Court, the government has deployed 37 interceptors with speed detection radars and breath analysers to punish the drunken drivers, he added.

Replying to another question, the Transport Minister said that there are 22,09,573 vehicles in the State that are older than 15 years. Besides, as per the data, 11,43,026 such vehicles are plying on roads, he added.

The vehicles will go off roads in Odisha if the scrappage policy is implemented by the Centre. It will immensely affect motor vehicle revenue, said the Minister.

Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the Odisha government as it is going to reintroduce stricter enforcement of the amended Motor Vehicles Act from December 1, 2019. Earlier, the Odisha government had relaxed the enforcement for three months so as to provide time to people to get their driving licences and other documents in order as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

(With Agency Inputs)