MoU for safety audit of NH-44 signed
Tribune News Service
Karnal, January 8
The Haryana Police has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), Faridabad. Under it, the IRTE will conduct a detailed road safety audit of the 187-km stretch of the National Highway-44 between Kundli in Sonepat to Shambhu border in Ambala for making it safe.
The IRTE will submit a detailed action plan for road engineering-related improvements, including fixation of speed limits and installation of road signage and road markings coupled with a plan for focused accident prevention through better enforcement and awareness of all categories of road users, said Manoj Yadava, Director General of Police, Haryana. He was chairing a meeting at Haryana Police Academy (HPA) Madhuban on Tuesday evening.
He said that the project has been initiated to bring down the number of the accidents and fatalities in road accidents on NH-44.
“The idea is to make NH-44 world-class from the safety point of view so that it could be a role model for the entire country. We will be able to reduce road crash injuries and fatalities at NH-44 passing through five districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat,” he maintained.
Besides, foot over bridges (FOBs) or under passes will be constructed at points where large numbers of pedestrians cross the road, particularly at busy points in Sonepat district and Panipat. These initiatives will be started within the next two months with a pilot project on the first 10 km of NH–44 from Kundli to Rai to showcase the initiative. Subsequently, it will be extended to the entire stretch. Dr Rohit Baluja of IRTE informed that this portion of NH-44 had witnessed 743 deaths in 2018. That makes it the most accident prone highway in India.
The other issues, including safety of people, behaviour of people on the road, faulty overtaking, identification of black spots, scientific construction approach, intensifying the enforcement measures, to hold road contractors, consultants or concessionaires accountable for faulty road design under Section 198 A of the MV (Amendment) Act, were also discussed.
The DGP informed that for the purpose of traffic management, the police would work actively to implement the recommendations emerging out of the road safety audit.