Truck terminals along highways to curb mishaps in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to curb road accident fatalities caused by unruly parking of heavy vehicles on the roads, Odisha Government has planned to set up truck terminals along the national and state highways.

The Transport department has asked the Collectors to identify a minimum of 10 acre land along the national and state highways in their  districts for setting up the terminals. Priority will be given to the districts which have higher accidental death rate. 

The terminals will have all amenities and services like restrooms, dhabas, tyre and mechanical repair workshop, vehicle serving facility, petrol pump and toilets. The aim is to open at least six facilities within two years.

In the first phase, Keonjhar, Angul, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Jajpur, Cuttack, Ganjam, Bhadrak and Balasore districts have been selected. Districts like Jajpur, Balasore, Ganjam, Sundargarh and Keonjhar have already identified the land for this purpose. 

Balasore district administration has identified two places having 10 acre land each, and Jajpur has identified a land spread over five acre.

Sources said even though Jajpur district’s identified land does not meet the criteria, it will have all the required amenities for drivers and the heavy vehicles. The number of vehicles will be limited to 50 once the terminal is open in Jajpur district.

The State Transport Authority (STA) said out of 5,081 accident fatalities last year, nearly 25 per cent were due to collision of vehicles with illegally parked trucks on the highways.

With emphasis on eradicating such accidents, Transport Commissioner-cum-STA Chairman Arun Bothra has focused on provisioning of specific facilities to streamline vehicle parking and movement on the highways, a senior STA official said. 

The Transport department has requested the State government to appoint an OAS rank official to coordinate with district collectors, tehsildars and regional transport offices to speed up the process of starting the truck terminals.

“Each terminal will have the space to park at least 100 trucks. Once the terminals are open, we will be able to save 700 to 800 lives every year by curbing the road accident fatalities on the highways,” said the officer.