NEW DELHI, 20 Aug: The Transportation,Research and Injury Prevention Centre (TRIPC) of the IIT Delhi held an 'inception workshop' for the preparation of road safety action plans for three districts of Arunachal Pradesh, here on Thursday.
The Arunachal Transport Department is collaborating with the premier institute for preparation of road safety action plans for three high-fatality districts of Arunachal: Itanagar Capital Region (ICR), East Siang, and Namsai. The initiative is aimed at developing evidence-based and location-specific interventions to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries as per the mandate of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety.
Attending the programme, Arunachal Transport Minister Ojing Tasing underscored the need for coordinated and district-specific action on road safety, and reiterated the state's ambition of working towards reducing road fatalities by 50% by the year 2030. He requested district administrations to work in tandem with the TRIPC and facilitate the centre in developing strong, evidence driven interventions for each district.
Transport Commissioner Saugat Biswas placed the state's road safety challenge in context, highlighting the need to move from aggregate crash statistics to identification of localised risks, clearly prioritised interventions, and defined institutional responsibility. Biswas drew out the expectation of Arunachal from the collaborative exercise. He stated that the TRIPC,IIT would hold various capacity-building and sensitisation workshops with senior officers and stakeholders at district and state levels.
TRIPC Head Prof Girish Agrawal introduced the TRIPC's work and the broader relevance of the engagement, while Professor Emeritus Geetam Tiwari drew upon global experience to highlight approaches to reducing fatal and serious road crashes.
The districts' perspective was presented by East Siang Deputy Commissioner Sonalika Jiwani, who highlighted practical road safety challenges and implementation considerations at the local level.
IIT Delhi IRD Dean Dr Ashwini Agarwal highlighted the research, innovation and applied work being undertaken at IIT Delhi and its contribution towards addressing complex public policy issues.
The discussion was further enriched by Sanjay Mitra, former member of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, who spoke on strengthening district-level road safety governance; Dr Asheel from WHO India, who spoke on the public health dimensions of road safety; and Dr Rahul Goel from the TRIPC, who spoke on the importance of robust data and evidence in identifying and addressing road safety risks.
Key stakeholders from Arunachal, including ICR DC Toko Babu, Namsai DC Lobsang Tsering, East Siang DC Sonalika Jiwani, SP (Road Safety) Singhjatla Singpho, Highway Chief Engineer Chou Choutang, among others, besides representatives of Pahle India Foundation attended the programme. (DIPR)
