New Delhi, March 16: The government is planning to upgrade the road infrastructure of the country to the level of the United States by the end of 2024, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. “We are increasing our national highways. When I took charge as a minister it was 96,000 kms, presently it is more than 1 lakh 46,000 kms. We are already making a world record,” he said.
Gadkari was responding to queries on fatal road accidents on highways during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha. The minister placed statistics regarding road accidents in the House, according to which a total of 12,82,184 road accidents took place in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 killing 434,244 persons and injuring 12,69,058 others. “Our overall record to contain road accidents is not good. We haven’t got as much success as we should have got,” he said adding he feels very bad about whenever the issue is brought on international platforms.
“It is deplorable that more people die in road accidents in India than in conflict. 65% of those who die are from 18 to 45 years of age,” the minister said. Reacting to a world bank report according to which India has 1 percent of world’s vehicles but it amounts to 10 percent of all road crash victims, he said that poor road engineering has been the main problem and attempts are being made to correct the same. He said that the participation of entire society is required to change the situation. UNI
