A large number of deaths on Indian highways could be an outcome of poor planning that urgently needs to be addressed according to Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Speaking at the innovation and excellence in road construction with National Highways Excellence Awards (NHEA) 2021, Gadkari spoke about the recent accident near Damta in Uttarakhand where a bus fell into a deep gorge and 25 people died.
Commenting on the flaws in road design, he said, “Our engineers should take a look into these issues. None of our Detailed Project Reports are perfect.”
According to Gadkari, the total road length of the country is around 68 lakh kilometres. Of this, State and national highways command just 5% of this length but account for 60-65% of the deaths.
“These lives are lost because of small things, there needs to be a more cautious approach in designing roads to completely eliminate black spots. There is absolutely no reason for black spots to be there in new roads,” Gadkari said.
He reiterated his goal of reducing the number of road accident deaths in India to half the current numbers by 2024-end.
Gadkari said that there needs to be a policy decision to allow broader roads in hilly areas. He urged the Environment Ministry to give speedier approvals for these broader roads. Commenting on the cost of road building, he said that it remains high and that it needs to come down by 50%.