Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that poor road construction should be made a non-bailable offence and contractors and engineers should be held responsible for accidents and sent to jail. He said India is number one in the world in road accidents.

Contractors and engineers should be held responsible for road accidents: Gadkari

 Addressing an event organised by industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Nitin Gadkari said faulty road construction should be made a non-bailable offence and road contractors, concessionaires and engineers should be held responsible for accidents. The Union minister also expressed deep concern over road accidents.

In the year 2023, 1 lakh 72 thousand people will die in road accidents: Gadkari

The Union Minister also informed that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways aims to reduce road accident deaths by half by 2030. According to the ministry's data, five lakh road accidents occurred in the country in 2023, in which 1,72,000 people died. Gadkari said that 66.4 percent of these i.e. 1,14,000 people were in the age group of 18-45 years, while 10,000 were children. 

55 thousand people died due to not wearing helmets

Nitin Gadkari said that 55,000 people died due to not wearing helmets and 30,000 people died due to not wearing seat belts. The minister also said that the Highways Ministry is spending Rs 40,000 crore to fix black spots on highways. Gadkari urged the industry and other related units to partner with the government to set up training and fitness centres to address the acute shortage of drivers in the country.