Under the distinguished direction of Hon’ble Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) organized the SADAK SURAKSHA ABHIYAN 2024: Samvedana ka Safar, which culminated in a 4-hour telethon and made a lasting impression on India’s road safety landscape. The initiative prioritized “empathy” as its central subject, encouraging responsible behavior and respect for life on the roads. It was carried out in collaboration with the SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF), a renowned non-profit organization in India committed to promoting road safety and emergency medical care in India since 2008.

The Honourable Minister talked about his own experience and emphasized how urgently change is needed. According to Shri Nitin Gadkari, “Every year, around 500,000 incidents occur in our country; in 2022, there were 168,000 fatalities and 450,000 injuries. This program seeks to encourage cooperation and empathy among road users to promote behavior change, even as we continue to improve road and vehicular engineering”.

The Telethon featured eminent personalities, including Nitin Gadkari and Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. Leading actors Pankaj Tripathi and R Madhavan were also an integral part of the campaign along with Shankar Mahadevan; Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification, Prasoon Joshi, and Author and Philanthropist Sudha Murty. The launch of the Sadak Suraksha Anthem by Shankar Mahadevan, with lyrics by Prasoon Joshi, resonated with the campaign’s foundational pillars – Respect, Patience, Safety, and Collaboration.

“Every day, 460 Indians lose their lives in road accidents, which amounted to a staggering 19 deaths every hour. In the same way that we battled the Covid-19 pandemic, as a country we must cooperate to prevent these incidents” said Amitabh Bachchan.

Furthermore, the telethon gave accident victims a valuable platform to share their narratives, which humanized the statistics and emphasized how urgent it is to act right away.

The Telethon also emphasized the significance of incorporating road safety instruction into school curricula and highlighted the Supreme Court’s unwavering position on the requirement of emergency care at hospitals. Even if the “Samvedana ka Safar” voyage is coming to an end, its influence will still be seen in the ongoing efforts to make Indian roadways safer for everyone. A more caring and safe India is on the road thanks to the insightful conversations and stirring anthem.

Priyanka Dutta