Cooperate in making roads safe: Akhoon

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 1: Minister for Transport, Qamar Ali Akhoon today flagged off a massive rally from the Mini Stadium, Parade Ground, in connection with observance of “Road Safety Week-2013” starting from today.
Being organized by the Jammu and Kashmir Transport Department and Traffic Police in collaboration with other allied departments, the aim of ‘Road safety Week’ into create mass awareness about road safety rules to make travelling on the State roads safe and secure. The slogan of this year’s Road Safety Week is “Stay Alive, don’t drink and drive”.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister stressed upon the officers to take strict measures to minimize the graph of road accidents. He said due to the installation of traffic signals in the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar, the regulation of traffic has been streamlined to a large extent.
The Minister said that the Department of Transport was committed to make travelling on the state roads safe and smooth by strict enforcement of the safety rules and sought the cooperation of the transporter and driver unions in making journey on the state roads safe. He said due care was being taken to enforce transparency in the issuance of the driving licenses, fitness certificates and making provision for adequate services on all the routes of the state.
The Minister said that the department was making all out efforts to make roads safe and ensure that fit vehicles driven by well trained drivers ply on the roads.
The Minister said that the State Government was setting up 2 Hi-Tech Driving Institutes in the State for proper training of the drivers.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Transport, Shabir Ahmed Khan asked the enforcing agencies to implement the road safety rules effectively and deal with the violators strictly. He said that huge loss of life in the road accidents demands strict enforcement of the rules, particularly in the rural and highly areas. He also called for holding regular road safety awareness camps across the State to make the commuters and transport operators aware about the road safety measures.
The Divisional Comm-issioner, Jammu, Pardeep Gupta, Transport Commissioner, Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Traffic Shakeel Ahmad Beigh threw light on the observance of the Road Safety Week.
The awareness rally, comprising contingents of Traffic Police, NCC cadets, school children auto-rikshaws and bike riders later concluded at M.A. Stadium.
Inspector General (IG) of Police, Traffic Munir Ahmed Khan, Director School Education, Dev Lata, Director Garages, G. A. Sofi, MD JKSRTC, J.S. Tandon, RTO Jammu, Arvind Kotwal, representatives of Transport Unions, Members of Automobile Industries, NGOs and Civil Defence besides school children and senior offices of Transport Department traffic police and other allied departments were present on the occasion.