VIJAYAWADA: The State government has come under attack for “focussing only on excise revenue at the cost of public health.”
“Once again it is the apex court that has come to the rescue of the people, and not the elected governments in the States,” pointed out B. Ramakrishnam Raju, member, Advisory Committee, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), referring to the Supreme Court directive to the State governments on closure of liquor shops within the radius of 500 metres from State and national highways.
Referring to Justice (retd) K.S. Radha Krishnan Committee constituted by the Supreme Court in 2014 to monitor implementation of road safety laws in the country, Mr. Raju said the States had shown utter disregard for people’s lives focussing only on excise revenue.
The committee, in its report, had pointed out a series of lapses in the implementation of safety norms by States, resulting in increase in the number of road accidents. It pointed out that though India had just 1 per cent of the total number of vehicles across the world, it had achieved a dubious record of 10 per cent of accidents at the international-level.
He said an analysis by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on road accidents in 2015 revealed that on an average, around 57 accidents and 17 deaths occurred every hour. “This translates into around 5 lakh accidents and 1.5 lakh deaths in a year,” he said.
According to a WHO study, 30 to 35 per cent of the accidents are due to drunken driving. The high rate of road accidents could be brought down by implementing the SC order but the need of the hour is total prohibition, he insisted.
Citing Bihar’s case, Mr. Raju said prohibition had resulted in increase in milk consumption, improvement in law and order situation and reduction in number of road accidents.
He reminded that social activists Medha Patkar and Swami Agnivesh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and scores of other civil society organisations across the country had kicked off Nasha Mukth Bharat Andolan (Liquor and drug-free India) for implementation of prohibition across the nation.
The NAPM will host big public meetings in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in February to drum up support for the movement, he said.
