Raipur – Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has called for prioritizing road safety in construction projects across India to address the rising number of road accident fatalities. Speaking at the 83rd Annual Session of the Indian Roads Congress in Raipur on Friday, Gadkari highlighted that if any future accident occurs due to flaws in road engineering, he would feel personally responsible.
Gadkari expressed concern over the alarming rise in road accident deaths, which have increased from 1.5 lakh to 1.68 lakh annually, and stressed the need for improvements in road and automobile engineering. Urging government engineers to take proactive measures, he suggested they consider starting their own DPR (Detailed Project Report) companies to address design flaws effectively.
The Minister underscored the importance of scrutinizing every project’s DPR before issuing tenders, as flawed project designs have contributed to numerous accidents. “Sixty percent of road accident victims are between 18 and 34 years of age,” Gadkari noted, advocating for roads engineered to eliminate accident risks.
Beyond safety, Gadkari announced new road projects for Chhattisgarh and predicted the state would soon boast a road network comparable to the United States. He also stressed the potential of waste-to-energy innovations, encouraging Chhattisgarh to utilize paddy straw to produce CNG and bitumen. The Indian Institute of Petroleum and the Central Road Research Institute have already pioneered bio-bitumen from agricultural waste, which has been implemented in Meghalaya, he added.
Explaining India’s bitumen import dependency, Gadkari outlined that producing bitumen domestically from paddy straw would be a sustainable, “waste-to-wealth” initiative. Similar projects in Punjab and Haryana are converting stubble into bio-CNG and bio-LNG. If adopted in Chhattisgarh, the minister suggested, this could reduce the state’s reliance on petrol and diesel.
In his closing remarks, Gadkari highlighted the need to create a robust infrastructure to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) and called for a collective focus on safety-driven infrastructure.
