PANAJI: The state government has set a target of reducing road accidents by half within a year, Union minister Shripad Naik said on Tuesday.
“There is a lot of work to be done in terms of road safety in Goa and once each department pays attention, we can reduce the number of accidents in the state drastically,” he said.
Naik was speaking after the road safety committee meeting held at the Panaji RTO, where issues related to road safety in Goa were discussed. Naik stressed on the need for the PWD to fill up potholes soon after the monsoon.
Representatives from the departments of transport, excise, PWD, social welfare, among others, were present at the meeting, besides officials from the RTO, Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) and road safety NGOs.
“The PWD is supposed to act quickly after the rains and take up works to fill up potholes. This can help bring down accidents. The loss of even one life is a great loss,” he said. “After we fix roads, we must improve the transport system and tackle stray cattle for the convenience of commuters, especially tourists. All departments must actively come together to resolve these issues.”
The road safety committee meeting will be held once every three months. The MP of each district will chair the meeting henceforth.
Road safety activist Roland Martins said there were 297 road accident deaths in 2019 and 178 people had died in road accidents over the past 10 months.
He stressed on the need for enforcement and road engineering to reduce road accidents.
“We are going to ask the directorate of panchayats to coordinate with cattle management organisations to tackle stray cattle and to reactivate local road safety committees. A file will be moved to set up a road safety fund. Signages and zebra crossings must also be put in place,” Martins said.