The government is serious about reducing road accidents as more people died from such mishaps in the last one year than from COVID-19 infection, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
During the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Mr Gadkari said the government is very much concerned about road accidents and will have to take all steps to reduce road accidents.
"Our government is serious about reducing road accidents...1.5 lakh people died due to road accidents in the last one year which is more than 1.46 lakh deaths due to COVID-19," he said.
The minister further noted that most of those who died due to road accidents were people in the age group of 18-35.
According to a recent World Bank report, India accounts for the highest number of road accidents globally, with 1.5 lakh people being killed and more than 4.5 lakh crippled annually in 4.5 lakh road accidents with losses amounting to 3.14 per cent of the GDP.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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