The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway(MoRTH) observes the first National Road Safety Month from 18th January 2021 to 17th February 2021, instead of the 32nd National Road Safety Week, to create and spread awareness about road safety and its importance in reducing the road accidents in India.
Theme – “Sadak Suraksha- Jeevan Raksha”.
On 18th January 2020, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways inaugurated the National Road Safety Month 2021 from Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for MoRTH VK Singh and CEO of Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant participated in the inauguration event.
During the inaugural event the ministers gave various road safety awards like, awards for best performing states and UTS for road safety 2021 and certificates for road safety, good Samaritans and National Highways Excellency Awards.
National Road Safety Week:
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway(MoRTH) annually observes the National Road Safety Week during the second week of January.
The first National Road Safety week was observed in 1989.
Activities during 2021 National Road Safety Month:
i.Union Minister Rajnath Singh along with Nitin Gadkari launched the Digital Road Safety Wall Calendar.
ii.As a part of the celebration of the National Road Safety Month, various activities and programmes will be organised across India which includes, launch of a film on Road Safety, flagging off of a National Championship Safe Speed Challenge from Wagah border to Kanyakumari.
iii.The state governments and other sectors will also participate in the awareness activings like seminars, walkathons, poster making competitions and others.
Key Points:
i.Nitin Gadkari stated that the Ministry has achieved the target of constructing 30 kilometers of roads and expects to achieve the target of 40 km of road per day by March 2021.He also stated that India will be able to reduce the fatalities and road accidents by 50% before 2025
ii.The World Bank and Asian Development Bank(ADB) has approved 2 projects worth Rs.7000 crore each, which will be used to improve the black spots on the road.
iii.In 2020, the government of India participated in a conference in Sweden where it has conceptualised the vision to have zero road fatalities in India by 2030.
Note:
Tamil Nadu has reduced the road fatalities with a success rate of 53% and reduced the number of road accidents by 34% in 2020.
About Ministry of Road Transport & Highways(MoRTH):
Union Minister– Nitin Jairam Gadkari
Minister of State– GEN. (DR) Vijay Kumar Singh
