New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Dr. Sasmit Patra has urged Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari’s intervention to address a steep rise in fatal road accidents and public safety hazards on National Highway 16 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Meeting the Union Minister Dr.Patra made an appeal focusing on the heavily congested Khandagiri to Palasuni stretch of the highway. Dr.Patra described this corridor as one of the busiest urban highway transit routes in Eastern India, connecting southern Odisha with neighboring states like Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. He highlighted that the stretch has suffered from systemic deficiencies in traffic enforcement, pedestrian safety infrastructure, and highway surveillance, resulting in multiple tragic incidents over the past year.
To support his demand for immediate safety interventions, the lawmaker compiled documented crash data from May 2025 through May 2026 along the corridor. Notably, he pointed to a major accident on May 9, 2026, where a speeding truck crashed into two-wheelers on the Fire Station Overbridge, killing three people and leaving another critically injured. Other cited incidents include a young motorcyclist killed by a city bus near Patrapada on February 7, 2026, a fatal hit-and-run involving a female pedestrian at Aiginia Square on March 13, 2026, and a fatal street racing incident in August 2025 that killed a mother and her minor daughter. The report also detailed frequent non-collision hazards creating major traffic bottlenecks, including hazardous cargo leaks, vehicle fires, and overturned LPG carriers.
In light of these safety failures, Patra formally requested the immediate implementation of advanced technological surveillance along the national highway. His recommendations begin with installing AI-enabled speed detection cameras and automated electronic traffic challan systems at major high-risk junctions, specifically Khandagiri, Patrapada, Aiginia, Rasulgarh, and Palasuni, to curb reckless driving and secure pedestrian crossings.