GUWAHATI: The State-level concluding ceremony of 'National Road Safety Month 2021' was held at Srimanta Madhabdev International Auditorium, Panjabari on Tuesday. This year's theme was – 'Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha'. On earlier occasions, road safety awareness was held for a week. To further sensitize the people on road safety, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has observed it throughout the month this time around.
Speaking on the concluding ceremony, Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said, "Life and death cannot be determined by humans, however road safety is in our hands. It is unfortunate that road accidents have claimed more lives in Assam than COVID-19. In 2020, Assam witnessed 6,533 accidents leading to 2629 deaths. In 2019, there were 8,350 accident and 3,208 deaths."
While distributing safety kits to 'Path Suraksha Mitras', the Transport Minister appreciated the young volunteers who came forward to support the existing government machinery to help the victims during the 'golden hour' of an accident. "This volunteer force will boost the morale of the victims and bring down road fatalities," stated Patowary.
The Minister flagged off 15 interceptor vehicles for accident prone districts – Kamrup (Metro), Kamrup, Goalpara, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Nalbari, Dhemaji, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Nagaon, Kokrajhar, Cachar and Dhubri. Patowary also distributed 11 laser hand-held speed guns to enforcement inspectors, and winners of painting competition etc.