25,934 Died in Road Accidents in Odisha in Five Years

Bhubaneswar: During the past five years, at least 25,934 persons lost their lives and 51,873 others were in road accidents in Odisha, informed State Commerce and Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu while replying to a question raised by BJP MLA Kusum Tete.

Opposition MLA Tete’s query was about data on road mishaps, compensation to affected families and expenditure by the State government on safety awareness.

Sahu said at least 5,467 persons died and 10,302 were injured in 11,663 accidents in 2022. Between 2018-2022, there were  54,790 road accidents in Odisha which resulted in 25,934 deaths and 51,873 injuries.

The Odisha government has provided Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured in road mishaps, as compensation.

As far as awareness programmes are concerned, Odisha has spent Rs 7,921 lakh for measures to bring down the road mishaps, the Minister stated.

As per the government report, the State government’s budget for raising road safety awareness went up from Rs 643 lakh during 2018-19 to Rs 2394 lakh in 2022-23. In the last five years the total expenditure borne by the government in this regard stood at Rs 79.21 crore.