Road safety campaign just an annual show, nothing happens rest of the year: Transport experts

State transport minister Anil Parab, Chief Minister Uaddhav Thackeray and officials at the launch of the month-long road safety drive

The Maharashtra transport department on Monday launched a month-long drive and campaign to mark road safety, lining up a host of programmes, events and enforcement targets with promising announcements expected in sync with the Road Safety Month launched at the Centre, by Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

With 11,452 deaths in 2020, Maharashtra has figured among the top three states that have reported the highest number of deaths in road accidents in the country, state transport minister Anil Parab said during the launch of the event, with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressing concern.

‘Work done only during drive'

However, transport experts and former officials said that the drive is an annual affair and lots is promised and action is taken during the drive when it happens for a month, but through the rest of the year everything is forgotten.

"The fact is that the Maharashtra RTO does not have adequate staff to enforce transport rules and regulations. It is more of a desk job, the clerical department issuing licences and permits and thriving on them. The vision and people to take ahead the promises are missing. The short-lived drive is an every year affair, when everyone is active," a retired transport official said.

‘Realities on ground different'

"This is more of an annual show. What is the need for traffic week or fortnight if you are ensuring proper enforcement all-round the year? By doing this annual event they have to show citizens that they exist. This should be stopped henceforth. It is sheer waste of public money," Ajit Shenoy, senior transport expert with Mumbai Mobility Forum and Mumbai Vikas Samiti, said.

"Just this morning I tweeted about chaos in traffic. Agree RTO has a different task, but the realities on the ground are different, there is a complete disconnect," Jitendra Gupta of Mumbai Transport Forum said.

11,452
No. of deaths in the state in road accidents in 2020