The Kerala Road Safety Authority met only twice each year from 2020 to 2022 as compared to the three meetings in 2018 and four in 2019, say RTI responses.
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There is widespread concern over funds that were meant to be used by the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) for accident-mitigation measures, awareness programmes, and tightening of enforcement being reportedly diverted for alternative uses, despite mounting number of road accidents in the State.
This predicament is despite the fact that the KRSA had a total of over ₹111 crore with it, as per official figures. The authority should make optimal use of the huge volume of funds it has to augment road safety measures in the State, which witnesses over 4,000 fatalities in road accidents each year, while ten times the number suffer permanent disability, said Raju Vazhakkala, a Kochi-based activist who recently approached the authority with a list of RTI queries to assess the effectiveness of road safety improvement projects.
Referring to replies from the KRSA, he said that it met only twice each year from 2020 to 2022 as compared to the three meetings in 2018 and four in 2019. The ₹111 crore that it has in its possession must be proactively used for accident-mitigation measures. It must also meet at least every two months and review the progress of safety projects for which funds were earmarked, he added.
Another RTI query that Mr. Vazhakkala filed earlier this year had shed light on how the Road Safety Council (RSC) in Ernakulam district, which is chaired by the District Collector, met an average of just once every year since 2018. Moreover, the council did not receive road safety funds during the time frame, leaving the departments concerned to implement the decisions that the RSC took.
Utilisation certificate
Informed sources said KRSA must ideally meet twice a year, as per rules, and it had been adhered to. In connection with the inability of KRSA to grant road safety funds, the sources attributed it to the State government often diverting the amount for alternative purposes. “This often resulted in the authority being unable to implement projects since the government would cite some reason to withhold its permission for these projects. A case in point is the need to modernise the operation of enforcement agencies. There are also instances of the departments concerned not submitting the utilisation certificate of completed projects such as the ones undertaken to remove accident-prone black spots on highways and other roads. This is a pre-requisite to release more funds to the department,” they added.
Timely disbursal of funds held the key to sustain the Safe Kerala Project and awareness programmes among drivers. There is also a need to activate the 740 AI-based surveillance cameras and to increase their number across the State and to clear dues to retail fuel outlets so that enforcement vehicles of the Motor Vehicles department (MVD), many of which are idling, and the police can be optimally deployed. The two agencies also need dedicated yards to park vehicles seized for different offences. Ultimately, the government, KRSA, and allied agencies must restructure the handling of funds in order to bring about a noticeable fall in number of accidents, they added.
