113 deaths in 11 months: authorities seek NGO aid to curb accidents

Transport Minister to chair meeting on Dec. 8 to review field-level action plans

Kozhikode: The Transport Department is planning to set up a joint platform of voluntary organisations to chalk out effective ways to prevent freak accidents on city roads. The department is hopeful of ensuring positive result through coordinated action.

Transport Department officials said a meeting of people’s representatives, senior officials, and police would be held at the Collectorate on December 8 (Thursday) to discuss the possibility of forming a joint platform, and that Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran would chair the meeting. The meeting will also review the field-level actions and awareness programmes conducted by various departments.

Meanwhile, speaking to

The Hindu on Monday, Mr. Saseendran said the meeting would be among the new initiatives to check road accidents in the city. “Our plan is to hold an open discussion of senior officials in the first phase and to move further with the formation of a joint platform for better action with the cooperation of voluntary organisations,” he explained. The District Collector will also be part of the initiative. “The main objective is to take forward road safety programmes to the grassroots level with more punch to create encouraging results,” he added.

Official data show that 133 people were killed on city roads in the last 11 months. Till November 20, the total number of deaths in Kozhikode district was 302. Trauma care volunteers from the city said it was high time the government initiated realistic action plans to curb road accidents.

Trauma Care Kozhikode (TRACK) Secretary E.R. Sathya Krishnan said his team members were on a new mission to make driving school instructors to handle theory and practical lessons together. “Unscientific training has been a cause for huge concern amid all efforts to ensure road safety,” he pointed out.