Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Shri Mohan Charan Majhi inaugurated the state-level celebrations of The National Road Safety Month today and raised the slogan to the people; “Come Home Safe”.
The Chief Minister called for transforming road safety into a mass campaign at the event held at Mahatma Gandhi Marg in Bhubaneswar. On this occasion, he appealed to all to follow the rules of road safety and return home safely. The Chief Minister has taken out a march from Master Canteen Square to Shri Ram Mandir to make the awareness program effective.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is observing the National Road Safety Month throughout January. In view of this, the Department of Commerce and Transport of the State Government has also taken up various programs.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who was the chief guest at the state-level function, flagged off the Road Safety Chariot. In every district, such awareness chariots will go around the month. Short films related to awareness about road safety will be screened in it.
The Chief Minister administered the oath of road safety to motorists, NCC cadets and the public present on the occasion. He advised everyone to be committed to how to follow all the rules and travel safely and be responsible for the safety of other road users. The Chief Minister along with other guests marched from the venue of the meeting to the Shri Ram Temple to make the awareness programme more effective. This generated a lot of enthusiasm among the students, motorists and the general public.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said that in the last 10 years, more than 47,000 people have lost their lives in road accidents in the state. This is very worrying. Everyone has to make efforts to reduce the number of deaths in road accidents. The time has come for road safety to be converted into a mass campaign. He appealed to everyone to return home safely and follow the road safety rules and return home safely. The Chief Minister emphasized the need to take this awareness message to every city, every village and home. He called upon all sections of the society, institutions and organisations to join the campaign.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister announced that 2000 new posts of traffic police will be created to further strengthen the road safety sector and 500 posts of traffic police will be filled up this year.
The Chief Minister also launched the ‘Odisha Yatri App’ with an aim to provide affordable and convenient travel to the public. Through this app, the public will be able to easily get autos and taxis for their destination in one click. This system is beneficial for both drivers and passengers.
During the padyatra, the Chief Minister inaugurated a free temporary eye check-up centre near the gurdwara. At an event held near Shri Ram Mandir, he felicitated the good samaritans who saved lives of road accidents.
Commerce and Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena, Housing and Urban Development Minister Dr Krishna Chandra Mohapatra, MLAs Siddhanta Mohapatra, Akash Dasnayak, Babu Singh, Bhubaneswar Mayor Sulochana Das, Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey, Sand Artist Sudarshan Patnaik, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Director General of Police Yogesh Bahadur Khurania, Commerce and Transport Department Principal Secretary Usha Padhi were present on the occasion.
Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur, OSRTC CMD Diptesh Patnaik, CRUT MD N Thirumala Naik were prominent guests including cine star Sabyasachi Mishra were present.