Arunachal Pradesh Targets 50 Percent Drop in Road Deaths by 2030

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh officials set a hard goal to cut road fatalities in half by 2030. Transport Minister Ojing Tasing announced the target on August 20 during a workshop at IIT Delhi. He demanded district leaders use evidence-based tactics to fix local road hazards. Tasing urged them to work directly with the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre, known as TRIPC, to build plans that fit their specific terrain.

The state Transport Department teamed up with IIT Delhi to draft safety plans for three high-risk zones. Itanagar Capital Region, East Siang, and Namsai are the pilot locations. These plans align with the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety mandate to lower death and injury rates. Experts brought in police, health officials, and road agencies to finalize the approach.

State Transport Commissioner Saugat Biswas pushed for a shift in perspective. He argued that officials must stop looking at general state numbers. "Arunachal Pradesh needs to move beyond aggregate accident figures and focus on identifying localised risks, prioritising interventions and clearly defining institutional responsibilities," Biswas said. Moving forward, TRIPC and IIT Delhi will hold training sessions for officials across the state to ensure these local safety plans actually work on the ground.