Govt should focus on road safety: LS members

Expressing concern over increasing number of road accidents, several members in Lok Sabha Monday urged the government to focus on road safety, especially on expressways.

Participating in the discussion on the Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for 2019-20, the members also demanded speeding up road construction in the country as it was essential for economic development.

Nearly 1.5 lakh people die every year in the country because of road accidents.

Observing that 4,000 traffic accidents take place every day in Kerala, K Muraleedharan (Congress) suggested that road laws should be strengthened to safeguard lives.

As a special case, he said, Kerala should be given more financial assistance for widening of roads.

 

"We want development. We are ready to cooperate with the central government in this regard," he said.

Noting that India has one of the largest road networks in the world, Muraleedharan said that the road infrastructure in the country was used to transport 60 per cent of the total goods and 85 per cent of passenger traffic.

Dushyant Singh (BJP) said that the Centre has given a push to trade and commerce and have even made efforts to provide work to the people.

When Nitin Gadkari took over as Minister for Road Transport and Highways, he gave a push to projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore which had been stalled, he said.

Saugata Roy (TMC) said that government was relying heavily on borrowed funds for construction of highways which could create problems for the banking sector in case of failure of projects.

He regretted that the private sector was not investing in road projects though they are benefiting from construction of infrastructure.

The recent accident on Yamuna Expressway should prompt the government to focus on road safety, he said adding that his party "opposed the Budget as it was weak on road safety."

Demanding greater allocation of funds for construction of roads in Andhra Pradesh, Geetha Viswanath Vanga (YSRCP) urged the government to provide special focus on road safety.

Shrirang Appa Barne (Shiv Sena) demanded that government should set up a high-level committee to expedite clearances to ensure speedy construction of roads.

Land acquisition and clearances from Ministry of Environment and Forest often delay construction of roads, he added.

Pinaki Misra (BJD) said that government was spending very little on road safety and maintenance of highways.

The focus should be on elevated highways with adequate safety measures, he said, adding India could adopt modern techniques to prevent road accidents.