Guwahati, Dec 24: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday that the road accident fatalities have lowered in the state; however, it is important to be extra cautious to keep the count low in the coming days.
The Chief Minister held a review meeting on road safety on Tuesday where he interacted with the officials of the transport department as well as District Commissioners to take stock of the steps taken by the state administration to avert road accidents.
He said, “Chaired an important review meeting on road safety with stakeholders. While Assam has seen a dip in accident fatalities, the period till January is very crucial to maintain these numbers. We’ll carry out extensive measures to ensure our roads are safe for all.” CM Sarma also added that Assam is the only state in the whole country where a reduction in road accidents was witnessed.
“An overall decrease of 15 per cent in road accidents was noticed with the enforcement of strict law,” the CM said, adding that the state administration will take more strict measures with an aim to further lower the accident numbers. Earlier, Chief Minister Sarma gave a comparison chart for the first six months of 2023 and 2024.
Every month, the number of road accidents has increased this year compared to the previous year. In June 2023, only 555 cases occurred across the state while the figure went up to 1,234 cases in June 2024 — an increase of more than 122 per cent, the CM said. The increase was lowest between May 2023 and May 2024 when 686 cases occurred in the previous year and 831 accidents occurred this year, he added.
Between January to June 2023, a total of 3,746 accident cases happened in Assam while during the same period, 5,460 accident cases occurred in the state this year — a gross increase of more than 45 per cent, he said. In 2023, a total of 1,670 fatalities occurred due to accidents while the figure stands at 1,248 in the first six months of this year, he added.
Although road accidents have risen, the decrease in fatalities is attributed to speedy medical intervention, according to CM Sarma. Meanwhile, the injuries related to road accidents have increased grossly by more than 150 per cent.
Between January and June 2023, 2,907 road accident injuries occurred while the number has gone up to 7,360 for the current year. However, according to the Chief Minister, the situation has changed in the last couple of months following the strict measures taken by the police and the transport department.
IANS