DC Kathua chairs District Road Safety Committee meet

Kathua : The 13th meeting of the District Road Safety Committee (DRSC) was today held under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Rahul Pandey here in the DC office complex today.RTO Kathua, ASP Kathua, ADC Billawar, ADC Basohli, SDM Hiranagar, SDM Bani, CMO, Chief Education Officer, Executive Engineer PWD (R&B), Executive Engineer PWD (R&B) Basohli, Executive Engineer, PMGSY, representative of the BRO, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and other members attended the meeting.

Threadbare discussions were held with regard to enforcement of Traffic rules, removal of encroachments, display of signages and traffic lights, formulation of awareness activity calendar, setting up of trauma care centre at Hiranagar, activation of road safety clubs, resumption of JKSRTC service in identified locations, road safety activities, identification of black spots and road safety audit etc.

The RTO Kathua disclosed that an intensive awareness drive on traffic rules has been carried out by the MVD including drives in school and colleges.The DC directed CEO Kathua, Principal GDCs and Police department to also undertake the awareness drives on road safety so as to sensitize masses on safety rules.

On the issue of encroachment, the DC directed Police, PWD, PMGSY and NHAI authorities to identify the areas under encroachment and remove all such encroachments at the earliest.The DC directed the XEN PWD (R&B) Kathua to improve road markings and signages to eliminate high risk stretches, black spots and improvement of junctions on all cross-roads.

Executive Engineers from PWD(R&B) and PMGSY were directed to ensure regular maintenance of the roads to avoid road accidents. They were also asked to identify the black spots and take corrective measures in accident prone areas by fixing sign boards and installing crash barriers.

The DC exhorted upon the departments viz PWD, PMGSY, NHAI and BRO to ensure safety audit of all the roads in a time bound manner.For generating awareness at educational institutional level, the DC called upon the principal GDCs to constitute Road Safety Clubs and conduct road safety campaigns on regular intervals.

Regarding setting up of Trauma Care Centre Hiranagar, the CMO Kathua informed the meeting that land for the trauma centre has been identified and the making of DPR of the project has been taken up by PWD (R&B).

For strict enforcement of the traffic rules, the DC asked the MVA and traffic authorities to carry out special drives and take stern action against the violators.The DC impressed upon the stakeholder departments to work in synergy by implementing all essential measures to make the roads safe for travelling.

The meeting also discussed issues ranging from commencing/ restoration of transport services on vital routes especially in border and hilly areas, installation of traffic lights, fixing of potholes, display of signages of speed limit, emergency helpline numbers etc.