Punjab Cabinet gives nod for setting up road safety force to reduce deaths in accidents
Punjab Cabinet gives nod for setting up road safety force to reduce deaths in accidents
Chandigarh
Punjab Cabinet on Friday gave nod to constitute Sadak Surakhya Force (SSF) or Road Safety Force to curb fatalities in road accidents.
The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann at the Punjab Civil Secretariat today afternoon.
A state government official said the Cabinet gave its consent to launch SSF as a plan for road safety for covering 5500 km of state and national highways.
“The Cabinet opined that Punjab has witnessed a significant increase in traffic and road infrastructure over the past few decades.
The state has a 72,078 km long road network including the national and state Highways which constitute 5.64 % (4,025 km),” he added.
The official said the Council of Ministers expressed over 65% of road fatalities (4,476 deaths in 580 road accidents in 2021) on national and state highways.
These accidents occurred between 6:00 pm to 12:00 pm when police presence on these roads is minimal.
Based on previous years’ road accident trends, the Cabinet has decided to designate Highway Patrol Routes.
The government will deploy 144 patrolling vehicles that are equipped with specialized equipment to check drunk and overspeeding and each will cover a distance of 30 km.
“An amount of Rs 30 crore will be spent on the purchase of vehicles and the equipment installed in them.
Around 5,000 Police personnel will be deployed in SSF out of which around 1200–1,500 police personnel will be immediately deputed from newly recruited Police personnel,” he added.
