Samaritan policy gets poor response

Ranchi: Though the state govt has policy to reward good Samaritans, people's response towards its has been lukewarm ever since it was launched in 2022. As per the policy, those who help the accident victims reach hospital within the golden hour are rewarded.

While thousands of accidents have taken since the implementation of the policy in the state, so far only 279 citizens have been listed as good Samaritan in the state.

Deputy inspector general of road safety cell, Dhananjaya Singh, said that lack of awareness and also want for compassion are main reasons for the poor response of people.

"During the meeting of the road safety cell, we spoke about the need to raise awareness about the policy, especially among people living in the vicinity of around the 102 black spots of the state."

He further said that even the health services ambulances should be repositioned so that they are located near the accident-prone areas of the state.

It may be stated here that in order to motivate the people to help the accident victims, ministry of road transport has come up with a new policy called 'Rahveer'.

The guidelines were issued in this regard on April 21.

Under the policy, Union govt would provide a sum up to Rs 25,000 to the people who administer immediate attention to motor vehicles accident victims and rush them to hospital within the golden hour.

The Centre used to provide Rs 5,000 and the state Rs 2,000 to the good Samaritans. The state govt would continue its cash incentive.

The transport department stated said that a notification on the new policy would soon be sent to district transport officers.