Eluru: District collector K Vetriselvi has ordered a sub-committee comprising officials of R&B, Police, National Highways and Transport Departments to identify areas where there are chances of avoidable and unavoidable vehicle accidents on the national highway and submit a report.

A meeting of the District Road Safety Committee chaired by Collector Vetriselvi was held at the Collectorate here on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion, she said that necessary steps should be taken to focus on preventable road accidents. Road safety measures should be intensified to prevent road accidents and safety standards should be strictly implemented.

The collector ordered the Eluru RDO to examine the dhabas, hotels and other permanent and temporary structures set up without permission on the national highway from Kalaparru to Gundugolanu in the district to see if they comply with road safety and government guidelines.

She also called for a meeting with the concerned owners to collect details and take steps to set up private security at the dhabas and hotels located next to the highway. The meeting reviewed the measures taken at 30 black spots on the national highway that are prone to accidents. She ordered that the measures to be taken in six of these black spots should be completed within 10 days.

She ordered that proposals be prepared for the installation of CCTV cameras in five areas under a pilot project to prevent road accidents at the black spots identified on the national highway. Proposals have been sent for setting up trauma centres in Bhimadolu and Jangareddygudem to provide emergency medical services to those who have been injured in road accidents.

The collector ordered the RTC officials to conduct fitness checks of all the buses to prevent RTC buses from getting involved in accidents. She wanted to take steps to provide electric lights under the highway bridge at Ashram Hospital. The collector ordered the NH officials to take steps to prevent water from accumulating on the bridges on the national highway. She wanted to check whether the ambulances related to NH, along with 108 vehicles, are available in the district and whether all the relevant phone numbers are working.

She wanted to install school zone boards in those areas and control the speed of vehicles so that students crossing the national highway to schools do not get involved in road accidents. She wanted to take necessary steps for planting and landscaping on the national highway dividers. She wanted to take steps to prevent garbage dumping along the national highway. Additional SP N Suryachandra Rao, R&B SE Rajaratnam, Transport Department Deputy Commissioner Karim, Eluru RDO M Achyutha Ambareesh, RTO Krishna Rao, District Public Transport Officer Sheikh Shabna, DEO M Venkata Lakshmamma, DCHS Dr Paul Satish Kumar, NTR Arogyasri District Coordinator Dr Rajiv, RIO Yohan, National Highways Agency officials, and officials of various departments in the district participated in the meeting.