Death of city boy moves PM Narendra Modi to speed up road bill

NEW DELHI: The death of Vinay Jindal, a management student who lay bleeding on the road for 10 minutes after being hit by a car in east Delhi last week, has spurred the government to fast-track the road transport and safety Bill and expand a scheme for cashless treatment of road victims to more states.

Referring to Jindal in his `Mann ki Baat' radio programme on Sunday , PM Narendra Modi said the CCTV footage of the crash had haunted him.

The road safety law will cover safety education, road engineering, enforcement of traffic laws and emergency care. “In India, an accident takes place every minute and a road death every four minutes. Among the victims, one-third are in the 15-25 age group,“ he said, adding that a national road safety policy and action plan was also in the works.

The cashless treatment scheme is in force on three highway stretches.