New Delhi: While it is essential to safeguard the country and its citizens through allocation of adequate funds in Defence sector, safety of lives on the roads is equally crucial. However, the lackadaisical approach of authorities towards road safety claims lives of around1.5 lakh people in the country every year.
Around 1.49 lakh lives, approximately 800 times more than the deaths caused by terror strikes, were lost in road accidents in 2018, says a study.
According to Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report published by the University of Washington, road injuries claimed 2.21 per cent of total deaths in the country, while terror attacks were responsible for 0.007 per cent of deaths in 2017.
The Save Life Foundation, an NGO working for road safety, asserted that road accidents cause `4.07 lakh crore loss to the country every year. The amount is more than the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. It further stated that 50 per cent of the road mishap deaths can be avoided with rapid assistance.
Recently, the Union government enforced the amended Motor Vehicles Act in the country where the fine amount for traffic rule violations have been increased by 10 times. A wide-spread protest, however, was seen against the government’s decision during initial days of its implementation. People also questioned the government for its alleged failure in providing safe roads to prevent accidents.
The Union government data for 2017 revealed that curved roads claimed 17,814 lives and injured 57,000 people. Similarly, potholes were responsible for 3,597 lives, road works/under construction claimed 4,250 lives and steep grade claimed around 4,000 lives.
In 2018-19, around `78,626 crore was allocated to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It’s disheartening that the Union Ministry has allocated `315 crore, 0.4 per cent of its budget, for road transport and safety. In contrast, the US Federal government allocates about 20 per cent of its total expenditure for commutes’ safety on highways.
Similarly, the Union ministry allocated 4 per cent of its budget (Rs 3,071 crore) for the maintenance of national highways.
Road safety experts opined that the Centre needs to allocate more funds for the improvement of road infrastructure as faulty roads claim more lives than those in terrorist attacks.
“The number of people killed in road crashes every year is higher than all the wars India have fought since Independence together which also demonstrates that a much larger number people die on our streets than any act of terrorism and war,” said Piyush Tewari, founder of Save Life Foundation.
While it is essential for the integrity of the country that Defence sector receives adequate budgetary allocation, equally important is the life of people that are lost due to road accidents, Tewari added.
“Therefore, a significant amount of budget is required to fix the faulty road infrastructure and boost the public transport system,” he mentioned. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, as many as 217 civilians and 183 security personnel were killed in terror attacks in 2018, while such strikes claimed 204 civilians and 172 security personnel in 2017.
In 2018-19 Budget, the Centre had allocated `2.95 lakh crore to Defence Ministry which is almost three times to the allocations to the Union Transport Ministry. In 2019-20 Budget, the government allocated around `3 lakh crore to Defence ministry and `83,000 crore to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The Supreme Court had constituted Skandan Committee while taking up ‘Save Life Foundation’ vs Union of India case in 2013, seeking a report regarding road safety. The committee in its report in 2015 recommended that the Union government should allocate at least `10,000 crore for road safety.
Kuldeep Singh, OP
