27th road safety week underway

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Jan 10: Along with rest of the country, the 27th Road Safety Week was iugurated by the Department of Transport today at Shraddhanjali Kan in the city. The programme will conclude on January 16.

Chief guest of the iugural programme, State Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia said: “Every year we organize the Road Safety Week for bringing about awareness among people, but the rate of accidents is increasing every year. This is a serious matter for the safety of people and so we should be careful about it. Transportation, engineering and healthcare are the three most important sectors for the safety of people. We have to follow every rule and regulation and create awareness among the people.”

Principal Secretary to the State Government, MGVK Bhanu said: “now around 2,300-2,400 people die every year in road accidents in the state. In 2001, 21,001 people died in the activities by miscreants and 15 people died in road accidents. However, in 2015, around 2,300 people died in road accidents and only six were killed by  miscreants. It can be surmised that due to lack of awareness and care, the number of accidents increases in the state. There are drives against drunken drivers in the city and at places around it, but no such drives are there on tiol highways. Maximum accidents happen due to the faults of drivers who are not fully skilled in driving. The Transport Department issues licenses without sufficient tests, and that leads to rise in accidents and accident-related deaths. We, therefore, should be more vigilant in this respect.”

Transport Commissioner Samsher Singh said: “The observance of the safety week is to make the people aware of safety measures to be taken during driving and to generate the sense of brotherhood and peaceful living. We have organized various competitions like that of drawing, quiz and sloganeering among children on topics related to road safety, besides bike and car rallies on the first day of the week.”

The programme was also attended by Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) Chairman Dhiren Baruah, Additiol Chief Cecretary to Transport Shyam Mewra, Guwahati Mayor Abir Patra, Additiol Chief Secretary Dhruba Hazarika, Commissioner of Police Mukesh Agarwal, Kamrup (M) DC M Angamuthu, Traffic DCP Prab J Goswami, artiste ni Borpujari and others. Those associated with agencies like Health, 108 Service and others were also felicitated by the organizers.