Bhubaneswar, August 22: The second phase of Zero Accident Day (ZAD) campaign will be launched in Keonjhar district.
The district, identified as one of Odisha’s major accident hotspots, has also been recognized by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and IIT Madras as part of the Top 100 Districts for Data-Driven Hyperlocal Interventions (DDHI), underscoring the urgency of this initiative.
A high-level strategy meeting was held virtually with Commerce and Transport Department Principal Secretary Usha Padhee and Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur, Keonjhar Collector Vishal Singh and Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian of RBG Labs, IIT Madras in attendance to finalise the roadmap to reduce accidents and fatalities in the district.
The meeting brought together state nodal officers, the district administration, and technical experts from RBG Labs, IIT Madras, the Department’s technical consultant. During the meeting, IIT Madras presented a 14-day decentralized, data-driven ZAD action plan focusing on targeted interventions at identified accident-prone areas.
The ZAD initiative has already demonstrated encouraging results in Bhubaneswar, where accident fatalities have shown a declining trend due to data-driven interventions and community participation. Building on this success, the Government is now extending the campaign to Keonjhar with a targeted and comprehensive action plan.
As part of the campaign, a series of multi-layered initiatives will be rolled out across blocks and villages. These include community-level dialogues under the banner of “Cha Au Charcha” near accident-prone zones, training of Sahayaks and Raahveers as first responders, awareness sessions for school children to nurture them as future safe drivers, specialized training for drivers working in mining and industrial areas, and public messaging through All India Radio programmes, among other activities designed to promote road safety awareness at scale.
In addition, a teaser campaign on Zero Accident Day will be launched at the earliest in Keonjhar to highlight the importance of the initiative and sensitize citizens about road safety as a collective responsibility.
The meeting concluded with a joint pledge by all stakeholders to ensure the success of the campaign. The Government of Odisha expects these collective, data-driven efforts to significantly reduce road accidents and fatalities, reinforcing its mission to make the state’s roads safer for every citizen under the Come Home Safe movement.
