PM talks of cashless treatment for accident victims, new road safety policy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced plans to introduce cashless treatment for road accident victims, even as he expressed concern over the rising number of deaths related to road accidents.

"Government will soon unveil a road safety policy and cashless treatment for victims of road accidents in select cities and national highways," Modi said in his `Man Ki Baat' address to the nation.

The scheme will be initially be introduced in the highway connecting Gurgaon, Japipur and Vadodara, he said.

The service will be also be expanded to Mumbai, Ranchi, Ranegaon highways, the Prime Minister disclosed.

"In the first 50 hours of accident, if the victim doesn't have money, he needn't worry about issues like who will pay and who will not etc. We are prioritising best assistance and treatment to the accident victims," the prime minister said.

"Also, there are services like national toll-free number 1033 to report an accident and call ambulance," he added.

However, he also called for greater awareness about road safety to avoid road accidents.

Pointing to the rising number of young people losing their lives in road accidents, Modi said it is the duty of every family to inform youngsters about importance of road safety rules.

"One is shocked to see the statistics of road accidents in the country, every four minutes a person dies in road accident... Apart from government, it is duty of every family to inform the youngsters in the family about importance of road safety rules," the prime minister said in his address.

"Around one third of those dying in road accidents are between 15 to 25 years of age...Keeping all this in mind, we want to bring road transport and safety bill," he added.

During his 20-minute radio address, Modi also dwelled on the prospects of kharif crop and the Clean India mission.