Nayagarh: Road accident-related deaths are on a rise in the state with 4,681 persons losing their lives during the last two years. Sundargarh district topped the chart with the most road accidents in 2021-2022 while Deogarh district was placed at the bottom of the list. Reports said that 349 people in the Sundargarh district died due to road mishaps between January to October 2022.
Similarly, 334 in Ganjam, 304 in Keonjhar, 265 in Khurda, 175 in Koraput, 174 in Sambalpur, 171 in Dhenkanal, 151 in Bhadrak, 148 in Bolangir, 122 in Puri, 105 in Jharsuguda, 81 in Nayagarh, 74 in Subarnapur, 71 in Malkangiri and 45 in Deogarh district died in road accidents during the same period. As many as 2,112 persons died in road mishaps between January to October 2021.
Among them, Sundargarh district topped the chart with the death of 312 persons during the period. Similarly, 294 in Ganjam, 277 in Keonjhar, 217 in Khurda, 155 in Koraput, 152 in Sambalpur, 130 in Dhenkanal, 120 in Bolangir, 100 in Bhadrak, 97 in Puri, 90 in Jharsuguda, 70 in Nayagarh, 58 in Malkangiri, 44 in Subarnapur, and 40 people in Deogarh districts died in the same period.
In a small district like Nayagarh, 151 persons have died during the last two years. While 182 persons died in 2021, it was 195 in 2022. As per a private estimate, the number of mishaps is way more than reported. However, not all accidents find a place in the government reports as in the case of many accidents, complaints are not lodged at the police station. Nayagarh district has topped the chart in cases of helmet-less riding. The regional transport office (RTO) in Nayagarh has given the highest revenue to the state exchequer in 2022. The RTO had a target of Rs 9.67 crore but it surpassed its target and collected Rs 11.13 crore. When contacted, RTO Prashant Parida said that challans have been issued to 7,597 persons between April to December 2022.
Among them, licenses of 1,003 have been scrapped. The challans were issued to 150 persons for drunk driving, 1,471 for overspeeding, 79 for overloading, 24 for ferrying passengers in goods vehicles, 182 for using mobile phones during driving, 5,503 for helmet-less riding, and 187 for not using seat belts in their cars during driving.