Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 2: Chief Secretary, B R Sharma today chaired 4th meeting of J&K State Road Safety Council here in which the status of action taken by various departments with respect to improving the overall traffic management and reducing the number of accidents in State was discussed in detail.
The Council also deliberated on State Road Safety Policy in light of further suggestions and comments received from various stakeholders. The Transport Department had in the month of February-2016 put J&K State Road Safety Policy in public domain and invited views, comments and suggestions in this regard.
A detailed report was also presented by Transport Commissioner P I Khateeb regarding the implementation of Road Accident Data Management System (RADMS) in the State, as is under implementation in the State of Tamil Nadu.
Transport Commissioner informed that adoption of RADMS by the State of Tamil Nadu has resulted in reduction of road accident fatalities there and has led to better traffic management, better roads and increased road safety awareness among the people besides availability of accurate road accident information has provided the authorities with financial and economical justification for allocation of budgetary resources to improve road conditions as a road safety initiative.
To move ahead with implementation of RADMS in J&K, the Council decided to constitute a two Member Committee comprising Transport Commissioner, and IGP Traffic that will work out the requirements for developing relevant software, establishing servers and allied hardware for data storage and analysis.
The Council was informed that the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has approved 100 Breath Analyzers for J&K recently for which the process of procurement has been initiated besides the Union Ministry has also approved 136 Basic Life Support Ambulances for which the Health Department is initiating the process of procurement.
The Secretary, Health informed that out of the 21-critical care ambulances, five will be received in a week and the remaining will be received by end of September.
Regarding presence of emergency medical services along Highways, Council was informed that 10 Trauma Care Centres are already operational along various Highways with 6 in Kashmir Division and 4 in Jammu division. Besides, the Health Department is in the process of upgrading 6 more accidental/emergency hospitals to the level of trauma hospitals by way of providing additional manpower and equipment.
Chief Secretary reiterated that Health Department should complete the survey regarding the requirements for creation of Trauma Centres on National Highway including vulnerable areas like Doda, Kishtwar, Batote, Poonch, Ramnagar etc and ensure that all Trauma Centres in the State match up to prescribed bench marks.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary reiterated that road safety awareness programmes must be made a continuous process and conducted throughout the year besides Road Safety Chapters should be compulsorily incorporated in the curriculum from next academic session onwards.
The Council also reviewed the action taken with respect to creation of road safety fund, amendment in J&K Motor Vehicles Taxation Act for enhancement of fees and taxes, reorganisation of Motor Vehicle Department, establishment of Inspection and Certification Centres (ICC), establishment of Institute of Driving, Training and Research (IDTR), online service in Srinagar and Jammu, re-orienting the design Directorate of R&B department, enforcement of Ribbon Development Act, removal of encroachment along roads and footpaths and setting up of intelligent traffic system in cities etc.
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