To check rash driving, the government is considering putting up three-dimensional (3D) paintings on major highways and busy roads to create virtual speed breakers, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.
"We are trying out 3D paintings used as virtual speed breakers to avoid unnecessary requirements of speed breakers," Gadkari said in a tweet today.
The tweet has gone viral ever since the minister floated the idea to curb the menace of rash driving, which has claimed many lives in road mishaps.
India witnesses as high as 5 lakh road accidents in a year, in which 1.5 lakh people die and another 3 lakh are maimed.
Gadkari's idea kept the social media buzzing, with some pitching for it, others opposing it and many re-tweeting it.
"Started 14 years back in the US and Canada... Finally, we are getting it here in India," tweeted a follower.
Another asked, "Once the driver knows it is virtual and only a painting, do you think the driver will even bother to slow down?"
One tweet was blunt: "This is a bad idea. The drivers at high speeds may apply sudden brake, thinking that there is an obstruction."
Another user suggested: "3D visual speed breakers need to be painted in reflecting paint and be of quality.
The government, Gadkari said, is optimistic that all 12
major ports and three flagship shipping organisations -- Cochin Shipyard, Shipping Corporation of India and Dredging Corporation of India -- will have a profit of around Rs 7,000 crore this fiscal.
"All are in profits... This sector is changing," the minister said.
The minister further said that this year, Goa will come up with 100 cruise, Goa, Cochin and Mangaluru will have 60 each and there will be 11 in Chennai.
"It will give a fillip to cruise tourism," the minister said.
The government had earlier said India would soon unveil steps to tap cruise tourism in a big way along its coastline and is trying to address the issues of cleanliness, connectivity and security to spruce up the country's image on the global circuit.
Sagarmala is an initiative with an objective of promoting "port-led development" along India's 7,500-km long coastline for which the shipping ministry has been appointed as the nodal authority.
