Odisha Seeks Relaxation In Traffic Fines

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will urge the Centre to relax the fine amount collected from people for violating specific traffic rules, said Commerce and Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera on Wednesday.

Briefing mediapersons here before leaving for New Delhi to attend a meeting on road safety convened by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways at Transport Bhawan on Thursday, he said the state government has decided to deploy one squad of traffic police in every 30 km of the National Highways and further streamline the parking of vehicles on the roadside. As it requires more human resources, the state government will urge the ministry to provide more financial assistance.

Stating that Odisha ranks fifth in the country in the number of road accidents, Behera said the implementation of the New Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019, the number of road accidents in the state has come down appreciably due to hefty collection of fines. “The state government has set a target to bring down the road accident rate by 20 per cent,” he added.