‘High Performer’ Odisha Praised For Raksha, Vahak & Road Safety Short Film Festival

Cuttack: Odisha has emerged as a ‘High Performer’ in the implementation of the various road safety directions with a score of 66%, the State Transport Authority informed on Tuesday.

A team of consultants engaged by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCRS), which visited the state for 15 days in June, praised a few initiatives of the department including Project Rakshak, Vahak and the National Road Safety Short Film Festival, it said.

The first-of-its-kind state-level programme, Rakshak, has 30,000 volunteers staying or working at eateries and different business establishments near accident-prone areas. They have been trained as first responders to road accident victims. Vahak is a refresher training programme for Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) drivers of the state and include three-day residential training on driving skills, fuel efficiency, best first aid, road safety and road signage aimed at reducing accidents.

There was an overwhelming response to the film festival, which saw 230 entries in 6 languages from 8 states.  The 42 shortlisted films were screened at a local multiplex in Rourkela and Town Hall in Puri.

Helmet compliance in Bhubaneswar and the smart queue system implemented at RTO, Bhubaneswar, were also commended.

While the state is in the higher performer category, the report stated that there is still room for a lot of improvements and on-ground effectiveness needs special focus on enforcing the rules and laws adherence, equipment and infrastructure availability and functioning.

In the institutional category, which includes the functioning of the Lead Agency and utilisation of Road Safety fund, Odisha scored 19% of 25 %. Similarly, 15.7 % of 25 % for enforcement and 14.4 % out of 25 % for engineering. Out of 15 %, 10.5 % in emergency care and 6.3 % of 10% in education score.