Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu on Tuesday asked all states to fully utilise the funds allocated to them for maintenance and repair of the national highways.He also asked them to make use of the funds provided to them under the centrally-sponsored schemes for development of state roads like the Central Road Fund (CRF) and the Economic Importance and Inter-State Connectivity Schemes (EI & ISC).Speaking at the ‘Conference of the Ministers in charge of the Highways in the States’ in New Delhi, the Minister said pre-construction activities are delaying the execution of National Highways Development Projects. “We need your cooperation and intervention to address these problems to together achieve the ambitious targets we have set out for ourselves,” the Minister told the gathering.Referring to the centrally-sponsored schemes, Baalu said the total accrual under CRF was Rs 1671.64 crore during 2008-09, and the available allocation under EI & ISC works was Rs 185.74 crore. He asked the states to ensure that adequate priority was accorded to proper signage and markings and that there are provisions for crash barriers, especially in hilly areas with a focus on improvement in road safety.Baalu asked the states to give priority to issues concerning road safety. He informed around 4.6 lakh road accidents took place during 2006 in the country, which killed 1,05,749 people and injured close to five lakh. He said these numbers translate into one road accident every minute and one road accident death every five minutes. And at the prices of year 2000, it amounted to 3 per cent of the GDP, which comes to Rs 55,000 crore every year.
