On January 07, 2025, Union Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), announced the upgraded ‘Cashless Treatment scheme’ for road accident victims, set to launch by March 2025. The announcement was made during a meeting with transport ministers from all states and Union Territories (UTs) held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Delhi.
- He also launched a nationwide scheme for establishing Driver Training Institutes (DTIs), offering incentives for setting up DTIs and additional rewards for integrating the infrastructure of Automated Testing Stations (ATSs) and DTIs.
Background:
i.On March 14, 2024, MoRTH launched a pilot program of the Cashless Treatment scheme in Chandigarh to provide timely medical care to road accident victims.
ii.The program was later expanded to six states: Assam, Chandigarh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Puducherry, and Haryana.
About the Cashless Treatment Scheme:
i.The government will provide a Cashless Treatment for road accident victims nationwide, covering up to Rs. 1.5 lakh per person per accident for a maximum of 7 days, provided the accident is reported to the police within 24 hours.
- Families of deceased victims in hit-and-run cases will receive an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 2 lakh.
ii.The scheme will cover all road accidents involving motor vehicles, regardless of the type of road.
iii.The program provides health benefit packages for trauma and polytrauma cases to eligible victims at hospitals accredited under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
iii.The National Health Authority (NHA) will implement the program in coordination with the police, hospitals, and State Health Agencies(SHA).
iv.The program will be implemented using an Information Technology (IT) platform that integrates the e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) application(app) of MoRTH with the Transaction Management System of the NHA.
Key facts:
i.Nearly 1.80 lakh people died in road accidents in 2024, with 30,000 of those fatalities due to not wearing helmets.
- Of these accidents, 66% involved individuals aged between 18 and 34
ii.Inadequate safety measures at entry and exit points near educational institutions, including schools and colleges, led to the deaths of 10,000 children in road accidents.
About Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH):
Union Minister – Nitin Jairam Gadkari (Constituency- Nagpur, Maharashtra)
Minister of State (MoS)- General (Retd.) Vijay Kumar Singh (Constituency- Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, UP)
