A non-descript Venkatachalampalli in Prakasam district will host the first of the three Institutes of Driver Training and Research (IDTR), first of its kind in South Asia, planned with a view to achieving zero-accident rate in the State. “Two other IDTRs, one at Visakhapatnam and the other in the Rayalaseema region will come up in the next phase,” Transport Minister Sidda Raghava Rao said on the eve of ‘bhoomi pooja’ for the Rs. 18.51-crore joint project of the Union and State governments on Monday.
A society floated by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd will run the IDTR with the State-of-the-art equipment, including simulators, to provide scientific training to drivers. A Memorandum of Understanding has been entered into with the automobile major to run the IDTR on non-profit and self-sustaining basis, he added.
Demo corridor
A demo corridor was being developed with the World Bank assistance from Renigunta in Chittoor district to Kadapa, he said, adding various interventions were being planned by the Police, Transport, R&B and Medical & Health Departments on the demo corridor to improve road safety and the successful interventions would be replicated across the State. The IDTR, to come into operation by 2018, would train 500 trainers of driving schools as also 1,000 new drivers of heavy and light vehicles with state-of-the-art equipment, said Mr. Raghava Rao expressing happiness over the first IDTR fructifying in his home constituency of Darsi.
Though the number of road accidents has come down by 334 in 2015, the number of deaths went up from 7,862 in 2014 to 8,114 in 2015.
Bhoomi pooja for Institute of Driver Training and Research at a village today
