The Centre on Tuesday came out with a cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims. 

According to Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, the scheme will provide treatment costs for accident victims for seven days.

Gadkari announced the scheme during a press conference held here after a meeting of transport ministers from all states and union territories at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

He said that the cashless treatment for seven days, or ₹1.5 lakh for victims, will start once the police are informed within 24 hours of the accident.

Besides, he announced that ₹2 lakh will be provided to the deceased’s family in hit-and-run cases.

Gadkari said that the scheme will be implemented nationwide before March.

The scheme pilot has been conducted in different states.

Road safety

As per the minister, road safety was the key aspect of the day’s discussion at the transport ministers’ meeting.

In 2023, India recorded 1.73 lakh deaths due to road accidents, out of which 30,000 occurred due to not wearing helmets.

Furthermore, Gadkari said that the country requires 22 lakh trained drivers, for which a decision has been made to set up training centres across the country.

Driver training institutes

The scheme for pan-India setup of Driver Training Institutes (DTI) will provide incentives for setting up these centres, and additional incentives will be given to erect integrated infrastructure.

Under the scheme, within the next two years, the Centre, in collaboration with state governments, plans to open up 1,250 training and fitness centres, with the central government providing an incentive (per capita expenditure) of ₹4,500 crore.

Vehicle scrapping policy

In addition, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister said that the scrapping policy was discussed in detail at the meeting.

He encouraged the state governments to scrap their old vehicles, including buses.

“This scrapping policy will help the automobile sector and will lead to the development of a circular economy,” he said.

“We have now integrated the setup of fitness centres with scrapping centres and this move will also be beneficial.”

Till now, 82 such centres have been set up across the country.

Additionally, he said that new quality standards and Bharat NCAP-based safety ratings will now be applied to e-rickshaws.

“The prices may not increase due to the safety ratings, but standards will improve,” he said.

In addition, he said that the Centre is considering mandating the installation of new safety devices on heavy commercial vehicles.

These devices, Gadkari said, will avert accidents caused by driver’s drowsiness, as they feature built-in technology that allows for vehicle stability and braking.