Road Safety Authority, 'Raita Sarathi' to prevent tragedies

 The Rs 5 crore allocated for setting up State Road Safety Authority (RSA) and Rs 2 crore for ‘Raita Sarathi’ scheme aimed at preventing accidents in rural areas are likely to give impetus to the Transport department’s initiatives to make roads safer. However, the funds given are meagre.

B Basavaraju, principal chief secretary, Transport department, said Rs 5 crore for RSA was only an initial fund. “We can get more than Rs 150 crore from the over Rs 320 crore collected for smart DL cards. Half of the funds collected for smart card are already earmarked for road safety,” he said.

“It is supposed to be a nodal agency that needs to ensure road safety. At present, officials are not punished for ignoring road safety cell’s directions. But with RSA, officials can’t ignore such directions,” he said. The ‘Raita Sarathi’ scheme aims to train farmers on safe operations of tractors and trailers as well as issuing two-wheeler DLs to rural people after tests.