Road safety: Develop Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar as model districts: UP govt

Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad, adjoining Delhi, will be developed as "model" districts vis-a-vis road safety, top Uttar Pradesh government officials said Tuesday.

During a meeting in Greater Noida, Principal Secretary, Transport Department, Aradhana Shukla, and Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh directed officials of the two districts to strictly implement road safety norms.

Shukla stressed on the need to ensure 100 per cent implementation of traffic rules such as wearing of helmets and seat belts.

Major awareness campaigns should to be carried out and the transport department needs to ensure that people follow the law, she said, according to an official statement.

All this should be done in a way that people follow rules making it a part of their culture and not because of fear of the law, Shukla remarked.

The principal secretary said funds via corporate social responsibility (CSR) could be considered for awareness programmes and asked the district magistrates and police chiefs to make special efforts to ensure the objective is achieved.

Noting that a lot of people do not wear seat belts or helmets, she said, awareness has to be raised in a way that these people follow the law as part of their lifestyle and culture and not because of fear.

Shukla said government vehicles should follow traffic rules.

DGP Singh noted that challans issued under campaigns for no seat belt or helmet in the two districts were lower than expected and asked officers to focus on this.

During review of reports, the state police chief acknowledged lack of manpower in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad for road traffic operations.

The DGP assured the district officers of providing the required manpower for these two districts to ensure their development as 'model cities' in road safety, the statement said.

Additional Director General of Police, Meerut Zone, Prashant Kumar, Inspector General, Traffic, Deepak Ratan, Gautam Buddh Nagar DM B N Singh SSP Vaibhav Krishna along with officers from Ghaziabad were present during the meeting.