Road accidents have claimed 25,934 lives in Odisha from 2018 to 2022, Commerce and Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu informed the assembly on Thursday. Replying to a question from BJP MLA Kusum Tete, the minister said a total of 54,790 accidents were reported in the state during the period in which 25,934 people were killed and 51,873 were injured.
According to the minister’s reply, the highest of 5,467 deaths in road accidents were reported in 2022, while 5,333 people were killed in 2019.
Road accidents claimed the lives of 5,315 people in 2018 and 5,081 people in 2021. The lowest of 4,738 road fatalities were reported in the pandemic year of 2020, despite long durations of lockdowns and severe restrictions on vehicular movement.
As many as 11,794 people sustained injuries in accidents in 2018, while 11,177 were hurt in 2019, and 8,818 in 2020.
A total of 9,782 people were injured in 2021 and 10,302 in 2022.
As compensation, the state government has provided INR 2 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased, and INR 50,000 to those seriously injured due to hit-and-run by unidentified vehicles. A solatium of INR 15.68 crore was provided to the victims during the five years, the minister said.
The state government has spent INR 79.21 crore in spreading public awareness about road safety between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
For the public awareness campaign, the state government has spent a maximum amount of INR 27.92 crore in the financial year 2019-20, followed by INR 23.94 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal.
