Bihar transport minister Sheela Kumari: Rs 10,000 reward for helping accident victims in 'golden hour'

PATNA: The Good Samaritans, who saved the lives of road accident victims by rushing them to hospital within the 'golden hour' of the mishap, will now be given a cash award of Rs 10,000, said state transport minister Sheela Kumari during a meeting of the Bihar Road Safety Council here on Wednesday.
The minister said under the guidance of CM Ntish Kumar, the scheme was launched to encourage people to save the lives of victims of fatal road accidents."If a victim injured in a road accident is taken to a hospital by a Good Samaritan and ensured his medical treatment, his life can be saved. There is a need for such people to come forward to help accident victims. To encourage such people, the transport department has decided to increase the cash reward amount from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000," Sheela said. She also reviewed department-wise works and schemes being carried out.
Stakeholders and representatives of departments, including home, road construction, rural works, NHAI, health, town and housing and education department, also attended the meeting. The minister directed the representative of NHAI to install protective grills along the national highways passing through inhabited areas.
She also said that in the districts, where bus stops are to be constructed, there should be facility of toilets and drinking water.
Transport secretary Pankaj Kumar Pal informed the meeting that so far 919 Good Samaritans have been honored on various occasions like Independence Day, Republic Day and other occasions. "Awareness boards have been installed on the walls of important government places/buildings in the districts for wide publicity of the guidelines related to Good Samaritan policy," he said, adding that Bihar Road Safety Council was working in collaboration with various stakeholders and departments to reduce the number of deaths due to road accidents and mishaps.
State transport commissioner B Kartikey Dhanji made a detailed presentation of the works being done by the council and various departments for road safety, through power point presentation.
He said one of the main reasons for road accidents was over speeding and driving in the wrong direction. "In order to reduce road accidents, it has been proposed to install and run static radar guns on the five most accident-prone NHs," he added.