Set up hospitals along sides of expressways: Yogi

Lucknow, Mar 2 – Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday while
expressing concern for the timely treatment of accident victims, proposed to set up
hospital facilities along both sides of all expressways, similar to food plazas.The CM was chairing a meeting of the UP State Road Safety Council, which was attended by the ministers of the departments concerned, senior government officials, Divisional Commissioners, District Magistrates, Police Commissioners and Superintendents of Police. During the meeting, he Chief Minister issued essential directives to reduce road accidents in the state effectively. Reviewing the annual data on road accidents, Yogi highlighted that 46,052 accidents took place
in 2024, resulting in 34,600 injuries and over 24,000 fatalities, figures he described as deeply
distressing. Expressing concern for the timely treatment of accident victims, he proposed setting
up hospital facilities along both sides of all expressways, similar to food plazas.
Emphasising the need for urgent action, he directed all the departments related to road safety to
work in coordination to curb accidents. He also directed the officials to identify and rectify black
spots on all state routes. Besides, he called for setting up of trauma centres along with deployment of ambulances and trained medical staff at hospitals in all divisional headquarters.
The CM said that in 2024, out of 75 districts in the state, 20 districts, including Hardoi,
Mathura, Agra, Lucknow, Bulandshahr, Kanpur Nagar, Prayagraj, Sitapur, Unnao, Barabanki,
Lakhimpur Kheri, Bareilly, Aligarh, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Shahjahanpur, Gorakhpur,
Kushinagar, Badaun, Meerut and Bijnor, recorded the highest fatalities in road accidents.
He said, “These districts accounted for 42 percent of the total accident-related deaths in the
state.” To address this issue, he directed the officials to identify the causes of accidents and enhance public awareness about road safety. Yogi emphasised the importance of regular meetings of the Divisional Road Safety Committee, directing that they should be held monthly at the district level and quarterly at the divisional level to prevent road accidents. He expressed concern that only one meeting was held last year in six divisions, including Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Azamgarh, Saharanpur and Agra, and called for an increase in the frequency of these meetings. However, he expressed satisfaction with the four meetings conducted in Basti, Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Mirzapur. The CM directed Balrampur, Firozabad, Gonda, Chandauli and Jaunpur districts, which had fewer District Road Safety Committee meetings in 2024, to conduct meetings within this week.
He also directed the 38 districts that held 10 or more meetings to continue organising them
according to the government’s SOP.