Chandigarh, December 14
In compliance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Haryana Police has launched a new initiative under which accident victims will now receive free treatment in the initial golden hour. Under this scheme, treatment up to Rs.1.5 lakh per person per road accident is provided free of cost for a maximum period of 7 days from the date of the accident. In this regard, Additional Director General of Police, Sh. Hardeep Doon has written a letter to all the concerned officers of the state asking them to ensure compliance.
Giving information about this, Director General of Police, Sh. Shatrujeet Kapur said that making the roads of the state safe for the common people is one of our priorities. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a better and effective action plan to reduce road accidents and work on them. In the same series, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has started providing free treatment facilities to road accident victims. He said that this pilot project will be implemented jointly by the National Health Authority in coordination with the local police and hospitals contracted by the state health department. During this, the accident victim will be provided free treatment up to a limit of Rs 1.5 lakh for a maximum of 7 days under Section 162 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
Under this scheme, the road accident victim is taken to the hospital. After this, the hospital management uploads the data of the injured person in their software and sends it to the concerned police station, after which the concerned police station confirms within 6 hours whether the injured person is injured in a road accident or not. After confirmation, the injured person is provided with cashless treatment.
Kapur said that in order to reduce road accidents, Haryana Police works by focusing on several important points, as a result of which a decrease of 616 road accidents has been recorded in 2024 compared to 2023. Along with this, there has also been a decrease of 251 deaths in road accidents in 2024 compared to 2023 and 403 fewer people have been injured. He said that from January 2024 to the end of November 2024, Haryana Police conducted 2166 road safety awareness campaigns through which 2 lakh 91 thousand 307 children and other people ensured participation. Apart from this, 6 special campaigns were conducted in the year 2024, out of which five campaigns were conducted against lane driving and one special campaign against those who applied black film on vehicles. During the special campaign, challans were issued to 27 thousand 321 vehicles in the state, out of which 2600 challans were issued for vehicles with black film.
Along with this, black spots have also been identified in the state where road accidents are relatively high. These black spots are rectified by coordinating with the concerned road engineering departments. In view of the seriousness of the subject of road safety, road safety committees have been formed in different districts of the state, through which regular meetings are held on the agenda of road safety. By the end of October 2024, 107 such meetings have been held, which are chaired by the Deputy Commissioner of the respective district. He said that in the year 2024, the road safety committee checked 19 thousand 261 school buses, out of which 4,657 school buses were challaned for irregularities. Sh. Kapur said that there are currently 66 toll plazas in the state on which weigh-in-motion machines are to be installed, out of which these machines have been installed at 54 toll plazas, out of which 29 are being used to challan overloaded vehicles through weigh-in-motion machines and soon it will also be started at other toll plazas.
Appealing to the common people, Kapur said that road safety is an important issue. The common people should cooperate in making the roads safe and should drive vehicles only within the prescribed speed limit. Haryana Police organizes various types of competitions and activities to make the common people aware of traffic rules. He said that people should not use mobile phones etc. while driving. Even a slight negligence of a person can prove fatal not only for themselves but also for other people.
