Chhatrapur: Motorcyclists won’t be allowed to top up at petrol pumps while government employees and college students will be barred from workplaces and institutions if they fail to wear helmets, district collector Prem Chandra Chaudhury said Tuesday.
The collector announced the directive at a meeting held at the collectorate to chalk out an action plan for strict implementation of road safety norms.
A special circular would come up in this regard soon and institutions found violating it would be served show-cause notices. The registration of the concerned school or colleges would be withdrawn if it is found that the directive is not being adhered to, the collector warned.
Of late, the district administration and police have had a tough time ensuring road safety in Ganjam district. Rash driving coupled with a tendency to not wear helmets has been considered as the single biggest contributor to accidental deaths, said officials.
Many people are also unaware of road safety rules and the meeting delved into ways to generate awareness on road safety among the public.
RTO Sanjay Kumar Biswal said 2,734 driving licenses have been cancelled in the last six months for reckless driving. Besides, 13 locations on state and national highways passing through the district have been identified as accident-prone spots. Prominent among them are Sorala near Girisola checkgate, Kanisi, Haldiapadar, Jagannathpur Junction, DRDA and College Chhak in Chhatrapur, Keshpur Ghat junction, Berhampur-Aska Road, Pital Chhak and Engineering School-Aska Road.
At the meeting, it emerged that about 130 persons were killed in 221 road mishap incidents this year so far, while 196 persons sustained injuries in these accidents. Some key decisions taken during the brainstorming session to check road mishaps included construction of a parking lot at an expense of Rs 15 lakh near Girisola gate, a training school for heavy vehicle driving on a plot of 20.275 acres of land near Palur Hill and a driving license training centre near Agastinuagaon on a stretch of two acres of land at a cost of Rs3.62 crore.
PD-DRDA Ashis Thakrey, Chhatrapur sub-collector Sudhakar Shabar, Berhampur sub-collector LK Sethi, additional SP Gupta Prasad Mahakud, CDMO SK Nayak and district education officer Sanatan Panda were present at the meeting. PNN