NEW DELHI/GURUGRAM: Gurugram and Sonipat top the list in road fatalities among all districts in Haryana , according to the latest progress report of the state’s ambitious “Vision Zero” campaign to reduce road deaths.While in Gurugram the number of deaths increased to 446 in 2018 as compared to 421 in the previous year, Sonipat saw 54 more lives lost last year than in 2017.According to data presented at the review meeting held on Thursday, the number of road deaths have declined sharply in Hisar (24%), Rohtak (16%), Panipat (14%), Karnal (8%) and Rewari (2%) out of the 10 districts that were taken up under the Vision Zero initiative in the first phase. Sources said things have not improved in Gurugram and Sonipat, neighbouring Delhi, because of multiple reasons including snail-paced action by road-owning agencies.“Overall, NHAI has not taken the necessary steps to improve road condition even after the reports citing the problems were submitted. There have been accidents and fatalities at those spots, which could have been prevented by taking corrective measures,” said a source. He added “The focus of discussion at the recent meeting was the work progress of reports submitted to NHAI, PWD and urban local bodies. In many places, lack of action had resulted in more accidents and deaths.” The Haryana government had launched the Vision Zero campaign in partnership with the World Resources Institute in May 2017. The Vision Zero programme was extended to all 22 districts of Haryana from this January. The progress of the programme is reviewed every month.“This is first such project in the country. We are taking support from youth associates, who visit site, carry out survey and give feedback. This is a very complicated task. You need synergy and that’s what we have done by bringing everyone together. Diagnosis has been done. There are some success stories in districts. We will continue this drive,” said Rakesh Gupta, director general of CM Good Governance Associates programme.On the reason behind high fatalities in Gurugram, Sewa Ram of School of Planning and Architecture of Delhi said, “The density of population in the city has increased so much that fatal accidents are bound to go up. Also, the number of pedestrians on the road don’t have a safe passage to cross the road. Make foot-over-bridges (FoB) at every crossing and not only where the national highway is.”Haryana Vision Zero said, in 2018 there were 168 pedestrian fatalities recorded in the city.Sewa Ram added that road safety has been the prime concern of national highways in all the districts. Getting driving licence without any test is one of the reasons the fatal accidents in the city has gone up. Col Subhash Yadav, general manager of the expressway operator Skylark, said, “Most of the drivers in the city get a licence without going through rigorous test. They don’t know how to drive or even the road signs. Whereas, in other districts the process of getting a licence is not easy.”

Stay updated with all the Delhi Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.