Bhubaneswar: Leaders often set the tone for the masses. And leading by example, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked his carcade to stop to allow an ambulance to pass in the Odisha capital on Friday.
The incident took place on Jaydev Vihar-Nandankanan Road. Priority was given to the ambulance at the Xavier Square, where his carcade was supposed to take a U-turn. The on-duty traffic police also facilitated smooth movement of the ambulance.
The very day saw the Commissionerate Police launch a campaign, ‘Make Way For Ambulance’, which aimed at educating the masses to vacate a lane for the emergency vehicle.
Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi and Traffic DCP Sagarika Nath urged people to move aside, stop or slow down and allow an ambulance to pass to help save precious lives.
The move assumes significance against the backdrop of the death of a five-year-old boy in an ambulance due to alleged traffic jams with the father of the deceased claiming that it took them one and a half to cover a distance of 13 km, on February 11. The CCTV footage of the route from Raj Bhawan Square to KIMS, however, showed that the vehicle had reached its destination within 22 minutes.
